PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
AFCON 2015: Malian team to camp in Gabon
Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The Malian national football team, The Eagles, will prepare for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition in the Gabonese city of Bitam, sources at the Malian Football Federation (FEMAFOOT) told PANA on Wednesday.
The training session will be marked by two friendly matches against Gabon and South Africa, on 9 January and 13 January 2015 respectively.
The 30th AFCON competition will be hosted by Equatorial Guinea from 17 January to 8 February. Equatorial Guinea stepped in to host the competition after Morocco pulled out at the last minute citing concerns about the Ebola virus disease that is causing havoc in West Africa.
FEMAFOOT chairman, Boubacar Baba Diarra, said that the choice of Bitam was made because it was very close to Equatorial Guinea. It is located at 350 km from the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo.
A group of the Malian players would congregate in Paris on 3 January before flying to Bitam, said Mr Diarra.
He added that the captain of the Malian team, AS Roma player Seydou Kéita, will be in Bamako to receive the national flag from President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita.
The FEMAFOOT chairman and his special adviser, former Malian international Sadia Cissé, have travelled to Gabon to inspect the facilities in Bitam.
Mali has been drawn in group D with Cameroon, Côte-d’Ivoire and Guinea.
The Malians will play their first match on 19 January against the Cameroonian Indomitable Lions.
-0- PANA GT/BEH/MSA/MA 17Dec2014
The training session will be marked by two friendly matches against Gabon and South Africa, on 9 January and 13 January 2015 respectively.
The 30th AFCON competition will be hosted by Equatorial Guinea from 17 January to 8 February. Equatorial Guinea stepped in to host the competition after Morocco pulled out at the last minute citing concerns about the Ebola virus disease that is causing havoc in West Africa.
FEMAFOOT chairman, Boubacar Baba Diarra, said that the choice of Bitam was made because it was very close to Equatorial Guinea. It is located at 350 km from the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo.
A group of the Malian players would congregate in Paris on 3 January before flying to Bitam, said Mr Diarra.
He added that the captain of the Malian team, AS Roma player Seydou Kéita, will be in Bamako to receive the national flag from President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita.
The FEMAFOOT chairman and his special adviser, former Malian international Sadia Cissé, have travelled to Gabon to inspect the facilities in Bitam.
Mali has been drawn in group D with Cameroon, Côte-d’Ivoire and Guinea.
The Malians will play their first match on 19 January against the Cameroonian Indomitable Lions.
-0- PANA GT/BEH/MSA/MA 17Dec2014
