AS Mande: a melting pot of talent
"Faithful to an old tradition and as a training club, AS Mande bases its recruitment on discipline and young age," says Abdramane Maiga, the coach of the Malian club who is about to participate in the first edition of TotalEnergies CAF Women's Champions League.
The women's section of AS Mande is the culmination of a long process of fusion and absorption.
Initially, there was the marriage in 1994 between the USL (Union Sportive de Lafiabougou) and the dissidents of the best club in the country at the time, Les Lionnes de Hamdallaye who had created an ephemeral club "Horonya" (freedom or independence) under the direction of Mamadou Coulibaly.
The fruit of this union joined the flagship club of Municipality 4 of Bamako: AS Mande by becoming its women's football section. AS Mande, which had a pawn in Bamako women's football with its great rival Les Super Lionnes - the other club created by those who remained at Les Lionnes - continued to grow with the merger / absorption with Les Tigresses de N'Tomikorobougou and AS Dagnouma from Sébénikoro.
The club won the first national tournament in 2005. They went on to claim the title of Mali Cup winner four times (2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016) and finished runners-up in 2021.
AS Mandé has suffered from the lack of competition in recent years due in part to the crisis in national football. But that didn't stop the Mandekas from winning both editions of the National Championship contested in 2018 and 2021.
The track record does not end there. Mandé are also third-time winners of the 5 Nations Tournament of Ouagadougou Clubs in 2006, 2010 and 2011 and they have won the Bamako Regional League several times.
However, their best conquest remains the WAFU A qualifying tournament in Cape Verde which saw the Malian club win the only West A Zone ticket to the TotalEnergies CAF Women's Champions League 2021.
Since the club was founded, many coaches have carried out the team. Cheick Oumar Traore (current Secretary General of the club), Abdoulaye Cisse, Moustaph Laico Traore, Tiémoko Traore, Alou Kanoute, Cheick Tidiane Dagno (current Deputy Secretary General of the club) Bougadère Sangare, Moriba Diallo, Abdoul Karim Coulibaly and Rokiatou Samake took turns in turn the reins of AS Mande, before Abdouramane Maiga was appointed.
The Bamako club have a reputation for producing star players. Among the older generation, some names are notable like Aissata Kouyate "Aichabou", Marguerite Lurette, Awa Sangare "Pecos", Mariam Keita "Santos", Korotoumou Kone "Jolie", Rokiatou Samake (current assistant coach), Diaty N'Diaye (current President of the club's women's football section) as well as Salimata Diarra.
"The AS Mande players in addition to the discipline must be able to adapt to the group and have technical and physical skills," adds Maiga.
In the current generation, the top players are Fatoumata Diarra, Fatoumata Doumbia, Hawa Néné Konte "Kaka" (International of Guinea), Bassira Touré, Salimata Koné (captain) Assiatou Diallo "Cafu" (guardian of the Sily National de la Guinea).
One club, many ambitions
Defending their national title to have the possibility to participate in the next Champions League, is one of the first objectives of AS Mandé. The Mandekas also want to win back the Mali Cup that the club lost this year to their great rival (Les Super Lionnes).
According to the management in place, the AS Mande project is big. Their ambitions are, among others, to create the first initiation centre for women's football in the country that will lead to the establishment of an academy, to accelerate the club's transition to professionalism and to initiate a project of retraining for former players.
But on the international scene, it's about going as far as possible during this 1st edition of the CAF Women's Champions League and creating partnerships with foreign women's football clubs and centres. The Egyptian adventure is therefore timely.