Tom Saintfiet: Mali’s new coach on his African World Cup dream

Saintfiet’s love of African football dates back to 1982 when he was just nine years old.

His first football memory came in the form of Algeria and Cameroon players in a World Cup sticker book, attracted by the names and kit designs, while as he grew older he slaked his thirst for knowledge with copies of the hard-to-find Afrique Football magazine.

Decades on, he still keeps them all.

“I treasure them,” he admitted. “There was no internet, so they gave you the information.

“I bought it in the ‘90s and the beginning of the 2000s.”

Already a head coach by the age of 24, he did not wait long before making his first attempt to move to Africa.

“I then applied – this 26-year-old guy – for the Zimbabwe job with a fax. I still have the fax paper and their reply.”

Saintfiet was well into his thirties before the fax machine finally paid off, with Namibia appointing him in 2008.

His journey since has been eventful on and off the pitch, building a reputation for lifting results and expectations from a low base – something best illustrated by his time with The Gambia between 2018 and 2023.

“I was telling the president and the vice president that I’m here to qualify,” he said of his ambitions.

“And they both looked at me surprised and said ‘coach, we didn’t win for five years – please, let’s first try to win a match.’

“They didn’t believe me because they had never qualified for a tournament in 60 years. The belief was, at that moment in time, almost zero.”