The National Football Team leaves this afternoon for Bamako, the capital of Mali, where next Friday they face the local team in the first round of Group "I" qualifying for the 35th edition of the CAN, the final phase of which will take place in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026..

According to a Challenge newspaperThe Mambas are expected to spend the night in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where they will make a stopover, and arrive in Bamako early tomorrow afternoon.

The 23 players called up by Chiquinho Conde for next Friday's match will be complete tomorrow evening in Bamako, according to a source from the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF).

The entire technical, medical and support staff and 10 other players are leaving Maputo. The remaining 13 players leave the countries where they are playing directly for Bamako.

In Mali, Chiquinho Conde's team will have two training sessions before the game, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The following day, at 19:00 local time (21:00 in Mozambican time), the National Team will make its debut on the road to the Morocco-2025 CAN.

The match will take place at the 26 de Março Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 55,000. The 26 de Março Stadium was inaugurated on 31 December 2001, and was built to be the venue for the opening and final match of the CAN-2002 organized in that country.

The match will be directed by a quartet of referees from Chad, led by Alhadji Mahamat. His assistants are Bogola Issa and Moussa Hafiz, while Pousri Alfred will act as fourth official.

In the meantime, after the match in Bamako, the Mambas will travel to Maputo, where they will host Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday for the second matchday.

The match, which will take place at the Zimpeto National Stadium, is scheduled to start at 3pm and will be directed by a quartet of judges from Djibouti, led by Mohamed Guedi. His assistants will be Rachid Bouraleh and Robleh Robleh, while Mahamoud Mahamoud will act as fourth official.

(Photo DR)