Men's football has so far outpaced the women's game—or any other sport—as the focus of public attention as a spectator sport.
History The
French introduced the game to what was then
French Soudan in the early 20th century, and the first organised leagues open to Africans appeared in the 1930s. ''Jeanne d'Arc du Soudan'', founded in 1938 by two French-Africans and the missionary Révérend Père Bouvier, borrowed its name from the Senegalese club
Jeanne d'Arc Dakar, and was originally a club of mixed race Bamako
Metis playing against white colonials. A handful of African clubs developed after the Second World War, competing locally and against teams from around
French West Africa, dominated by the clubs of
Senegal. Foyer du Soudan (later
Djoliba AC) and JA du Soudan competed in the
French West African Cup from the late 1940s until 1959, as well as local leagues (
Bamako League) and the "coupe du Soudan" (1947-1959).
Domestic league At independence, the new government reorganised the sport leagues, combining a number of the larger teams with nearby clubs. Most notably, two Bamako clubs fused into teams which still dominate national sport, to become
Djoliba Athletic Club and
Stade Malien de Bamako in 1960. In the first
Coupe du Mali, Stade and Djoliba reached the two match final in 1961. Tied 3-3 after the first match, Stade carried the cup 2-1 in the second. Stade were also the first Malian club to reach the final of the
African Cup of Champions Clubs in
1964/5, losing 2-1 to
Oryx Douala. The great
Salif Keita brought
AS Real Bamako dominance in his time there (1963-1967). He later moved on to France, becoming the first Malian star player in Europe while at
AS Saint-Étienne and
Olympique de Marseille. At Saint-Étienne, Keita won the
African Footballer of the Year in 1970, the first Malian to win the award, and later played in Spain, Portugal, and the United States. New clubs have appeared, but the three big Bamako clubs have maintained a strangle on Malian football. Every top division league title since 1966 has been won by one of these Stade, Djoliba, or Real, and all but five times since 1961 have these clubs won the
Coupe du Mali.
Overseas players playing at
Liverpool F.C., November 2005. The success of Malian players abroad encourages young men in one of the world's poorest nations to pursue football. In a path blazed by Keita, the country has produced several other notable players for French teams, including
Jean Tigana, and
Frédéric "Fredi" Kanouté, named 2007 African Footballer of the Year, but latterly elected to play for Mali instead.
Mahamadou Diarra, the captain of the Mali national team, played for
Real Madrid for four seasons before moving to
AS Monaco and
Seydou Keita plays for
AS Roma. Other notable players currently on European squads include,
Drissa Diakité (
SC Bastia),
Modibo Maïga (
West Ham United),
Adama Coulibaly (
Valenciennes FC),
Cheick Diabaté (
FC Girondins de Bordeaux), and
Yacouba Sylla (
Stade Rennais F.C.).
International competition ==Attendances==