Malian basketball wants to move forward quietly\u2026 but with big ambitions. Gathered this Saturday, July 25, 2026, at the Columbus Hotel in Bamako, the Malian Basketball Federation (FMBB) unveiled its roadmap to the media. Around president Me Jean-Claude Sidib\u00e9 sat secretary general Diya Ciss\u00e9, Eagles Ladies coach Oumarou Ma\u00efga and captain Dj\u00e9n\u00e9ba N’Diaye, symbolizing a federation presenting a united front as a decisive period approaches for the various national teams.<\/p>\n
Mariam Alou Coulibaly, the return that ends the rumors<\/p>\n
The main topic of this meeting concerned the return of Mariam Alou Coulibaly. In recent years, several rumors spoke of a financial disagreement between the best Malian player and the federation. Me Jean-Claude Sidib\u00e9 firmly swept aside these speculations. \u201cMariam never asked for a single cent to represent Mali,\u201d insisted the FMBB president. According to him, the pivot\u2019s absence was solely due to physical constraints, the result of a particularly grueling season in Spain, marked by injuries and accumulated fatigue.<\/p>\n
Named best player of the Spanish championship, the Malian star will therefore make her return with the Eagles Ladies at the FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup 2026, scheduled in Berlin. Excellent news for a team that regains its main anchor in the paint, both for her defensive impact and her leadership.<\/p>\n
Berlin 2026 in sight<\/p>\n
On the court, the message is clear: Mali no longer wants to settle for mere participation. Coach Oumarou Ma\u00efga confirmed that preparations are going very well, with a full and fully committed squad.<\/p>\n
Before flying to Germany, the Eagles Ladies will take part in an international preparation tournament in Spain, at the invitation of the Spanish Federation. A full-scale test against several qualified nations, allowing them to adjust the final details before the World Cup. Captain Dj\u00e9n\u00e9ba N’Diaye shares this confidence. \u201cWe know what this World Cup means to the Malian people. The team has matured through international competitions and today we are able to compete with the best teams.\u201d The stated objective: to get past the group stage for the first time. A decisive summer for all the teams.<\/p>\n
The press conference was also an opportunity to review a particularly busy schedule.<\/p>\n
The U16 teams, both girls and boys, will compete in a Zone 2 tournament in Dakar at the end of August.<\/p>\n
The U18 teams will then defend their continental titles at the Afrobasket organized in Abidjan, from August 5 to 16, with squads already assembled in training camp to optimize their preparation.<\/p>\n
For the men’s senior team, the Eagles will continue their qualification campaign for the 2027 World Cup. After two convincing windows, they will return to Dakar from August 27 to 30 for another decisive stage, with preparations scheduled from August 15.<\/p>\n
A strategy that is paying off<\/p>\n
The president of the FMBB also reflected on the work done to scout binational players playing in Europe and North America. The successful integration of point guard Hassane Diarra into the men’s team, in his view, illustrates the relevance of this policy, which is set to continue across all categories.<\/p>\n
Finally, Me Jean-Claude Sidib\u00e9 praised the support of the Transition authorities and the ministry responsible for Sports. For the first time in several years, public funding was made available to the federation even before the start of competitions.<\/p>\n
This support provides greater serenity to the various teams, now focused solely on their sporting goals.<\/p>\n
A few weeks before a decisive summer, Malian basketball seems to have brought together the essential ingredients for success: a strengthened squad, well-managed preparation, and claimed institutional stability. It now remains to turn this confidence into results on African and world courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malian basketball wants to move forward quietly\u2026 but with big ambitions. Gathered this Saturday, July 25, 2026, at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,398698,398699,4117,588,85,635],"class_list":["post-825259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-federation-malienne-de-basketball","tag-fiba-afrique","tag-mali","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-sports-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}