The “Malo Family” – Stallions’ father to son

This is one of the most beautiful stories of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021. In addition to their qualification for the semi-finals of the continent’s flagship tournament, two Stallions from Burkina Faso are living a dream: Kamou and Patrick Malo.

They have the same surname, simply because Kamou is the father, and Patrick is the son.

The two men fly the colors of Burkina Faso during this TotalEnergies AFCON, with the aim of going as far as possible and trying to win the title.

"My objective has been reached contractually, but the desire is there to go far" says the Burkinabe coach.

At 59, Kamou Malo has been leading the Stallions since July 2019. In two and a half years, he has led Burkina Faso to second place behind Algeria in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers group, and to TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations semifinal.

For the Burkinabe coach, having his son in his selection is nothing but pride. “Patrick is a very good player. He has been part of the Stallions for several years, even before I took over in 2019,” declares the former player of US Ouagadougou and Etoile Filante. “He faces stiff competition in his position and must still work hard within the selection. He played in the opener as we had a lot of absentees due to COVID, but he remains one of the players we rely on in the squad,” added the coach.

Patrick, central defender of Hassania d'Agadir in Morocco, has already 22 caps with the Stallions since his first appearance in the Burkinabe jersey on 9 October 2015 under former coach Gernot Rohr.

At 30, the former player of JS Kabylie (Algeria) and Smouha (Egypt), also dreams of reaching the final on 6 February 2022 at the Olembe stadium. Before that, the Stallions will have a lot to do this Wednesday against Senegal, last edition runners-up.