Several months after the AFCON 2023, Malian player Yves Bissouma has finally broken his silence on the incident that angered his compatriots.
For context, Yves Bissouma was called up to play in the AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire. However, upon arrival for national team duty, he was injured. Throughout the competition, the player failed to impress due to his health condition.
After AFCON 2023, the Eagles of Mali were gearing up for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Unfortunately for Yves Bissouma, coach Eric Chelles did not select him.
In response to this non-selection, the player unfollowed the social media accounts of FEMAFOOT, which sparked criticism online.
After the controversy subsided, he decided to speak out. Yves Bissouma expressed himself in these words: “I prepared for AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire for over 2 years. My wish was to win this AFCON on my native soil. But a few days before the start of AFCON 2023, I fell ill. I tried to recover as quickly as possible because I wanted to help the team as best as I could. I chose Mali because Malians loved and supported me from junior to senior level.
After the loss to Côte d’Ivoire, I was surprised. I didn’t even know what to say, but during the match, I was very angry at the way my teammates were playing. But what could I do? I couldn’t get onto the field myself.
When the coach asked me to warm up, I told him directly that this is not the football we should be playing like this. And when I entered the field, it turned out that things didn’t go well, our only goal was to equalize.”
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