Riedoh Berdien - the South African playing key role in Mali’s AFCON ambitions

Berdien, a well-travelled physical conditioning coach with experience in Africa, Asia, North America, and the Caribbean, is now on the big mission of AFCON number five.

His solid partnership with Mali head coach Tom Saintfiet over the years has benefited the Malian Eagles in this tournament, and he looks forward to this big clash...

Berdien, who hails from Cape Town, is a well-travelled conditioning coach having worked with national teams on the African continent for over 13 years. He looks back with pride at his five AFCONS dating back to 2012...

"My first AFCON was with Botswana in 2012, and we made history because it was the nations first AFCON, then we qualified with Togo in 2017, and then of course the two AFCON's with coach Saintfiet and Gambia in 2018 and 2024. I was involved in the WAFCON with Banyana Banayana in Cameroon as well."

READ: How can I watch Cameroon vs Morocco in the AFCON 2025 quarterfinals on Friday?

A lot has been said about the cooler weather conditions in this 35th edition of the AFCON tournament and how they have influenced the results, with the big African football nations, dominated by world-class players mainly based in Europe, showing their level.

This is also illustrated by the quarterfinal line-up as Berdien analyses this tournament...

"The conditions have been a little bit different, with the rain and the cold weather. I can only speak for our players in our camp, the guys are enjoying it and they prefer to train in this kind of weather than extreme heat.

"In the tournament itself, due to the conditions the supporters haven't come out in their numbers although we had good turnouts in all of our games despite the poor weather. We have to credit CAF and the people of Morocco, because although the weather was cold, the pitches were still very well maintained."

Berdien is part of the Malian technical team that is aiming to reach the semi-finals this evening against a very strong Senegalese team, who are among the favourites to win this title.

In the round of 16, they beat Tunisia on penalties after playing with only 10 men for more than 85 minutes.

Berdien credits teamwork for that.

With Mali, Berdien is dealing with big players, from big clubs---the likes of Yves Bissouma (Tottenham Hotspur, EPL), Woyo Couibaly (Sassuolo, Serie A), Amadou Haidara (RB Leipzig going to Lens) and Mamadou Doumbia (Watford).

He says this also helps him to interact with these big clubs on how to take care of their players...