Tom Saintfiet seals Hamari Traoré's future with the Eagles of Mali

Before facing the Central African Republic this Monday for the 6th matchday of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Mali's coach, Tom Saintfiet, provided updates on Hamari Traoré and clarified his future with the national team.

Absent during this international break, Hamari Traoré has been following the Eagles of Mali's journey from afar. The Real Sociedad player, recently back from injury, was left out by Tom Saintfiet for this international window to prevent a relapse. After defeating Comoros 3-0 in the 5th matchday of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Malian team will attempt to continue their success against the Central African Republic on Monday in the 6th matchday. Just hours before this clash, the Belgian coach found the right moment to discuss Hamari Traoré's future with the team.

He is a good player, very experienced, playing for a good Spanish club, and was Mali's captain before his serious injury. I watched the two matches he played in March. It's great that he's playing again. Obviously, it was not feasible for him to be with us for the two matches in March. He has just resumed competition with his team and has only played an hour in total. We need to give him time to regain his pace. We'll see in June, as we should be playing one or two friendly matches.

The entire Malian nation hopes to see Hamari Traoré with the Eagles in good form by next June.

Lydiane N'Po |

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Sports journalist specializing in African football, covering football news, exclusive stories and digital content for passionate fans of the game.