Burkina Faso national football team facts for kids
Nickname(s) | Les Étalons (The Stallions) Les faucons pèlerins (The Peregrine Falcons) |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|
Association | Burkinabé Football Federation | |||
Confederation | CAF (Africa) | |||
Sub-confederation | WAFU (West Africa) | |||
Head coach | Brama Traoré | |||
Captain | Bertrand Traoré | |||
Most caps | Charles Kaboré (102) | |||
Top scorer | Moumouni Dagano (34) | |||
Home stadium | Stade du 4-Août | |||
FIFA code | BFA | |||
|
||||
FIFA ranking | ||||
Current | 62 ![]() |
|||
Highest | 35 (April–May 2017) | |||
Lowest | 127 (December 1993) | |||
Elo ranking | ||||
Current | 75 ![]() |
|||
Highest | 52 (September 2017) | |||
Lowest | 133 (February 1987) | |||
First international | ||||
![]() ![]() (Tananarive, Madagascar; 14 April 1960) |
||||
Biggest win | ||||
![]() ![]() (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; 27 December 1961) ![]() ![]() (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; 7 June 2003) ![]() ![]() (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; 26 March 2011) ![]() ![]() (Nelspruit, South Africa; 25 January 2013) ![]() ![]() (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; 23 March 2013) ![]() ![]() (Nelspruit, South Africa; 10 January 2015) ![]() ![]() (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; 14 November 2017) ![]() ![]() (Marrakesh, Morocco; 8 October 2021) |
||||
Biggest defeat | ||||
![]() ![]() (Oran, Algeria; 30 August 1981) |
||||
Africa Cup of Nations | ||||
Appearances | 14 (first in 1978) | |||
Best result | Runners-up (2013) | |||
Mapinduzi Cup | ||||
Appearances | 1 (first in 2025) | |||
Best result | Runners-up (2025) |
The Burkina Faso national football team (also known as Équipe de football du Burkina Faso) represents the country of Burkina Faso in men's international football games. The team is managed by the Burkinabé Football Federation.
Before 1984, the team was called the Upper Volta national football team. This was because the country was known as Upper Volta until it changed its name to Burkina Faso. The team hosted the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations and finished fourth. Their best result in this tournament was reaching the final in 2013.
Contents
Team History and Achievements
The team played its very first international match on April 13, 1960. It was part of the Jeux de la Communauté in Madagascar. They won that game 5–4 against Gabon.
Africa Cup of Nations Journey
Burkina Faso first played in the Africa Cup of Nations in 1978. They did not return to the tournament until 1996. After that, they qualified for five tournaments in a row, from 1996 to 2004.
In 1998, when Burkina Faso hosted the tournament, they reached the semi-finals. This was a big achievement for the team. In the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, they were in a group with Ghana and Ivory Coast. They drew their first match but lost to Ghana, so they did not move past the group stage.
In the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, they lost all three of their matches. However, they bounced back strongly in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. They finished first in their group but lost to Nigeria in the final, becoming runners-up. The team also earned third place in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. In the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, they again reached the semi-finals, finishing fourth.
World Cup Qualification Efforts
Burkina Faso first tried to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 1978. They won against Mauritania but then lost to Ivory Coast. They also tried to qualify in 1990 but lost in the first round.
They withdrew from the 1994 competition. In 1998, they made it to the final group stage but did not earn any points. They also reached the group stage in 2002 but did not advance.
The team had a strong performance in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. They reached the final round and played against Algeria. They won 3–2 at home but lost 1–0 away. Even though the total score was 3-3, Burkina Faso missed out on the World Cup because of the away goals rule.
Team Nickname: The Stallions
The team's nickname is Les Etalons, which means "The Stallions". This name comes from the legendary horse of Princess Yennenga, a famous figure in Burkina Faso's history. When the team plays, their supporters often bring a percussion band. This band makes sounds that mimic galloping horses, adding to the excitement of the matches.
Recent Matches and Schedule
Here are some of the recent match results and upcoming games for the Burkina Faso national football team.
Win Draw Loss Fixture
Matches in 2024
- March 22: Libya 2–1 Burkina Faso (Friendly) - Loss
- March 26: Niger 1–1 Burkina Faso (Friendly) - Draw
- June 6: Egypt 2–1 Burkina Faso (World Cup qualification) - Loss
- June 10: Burkina Faso 2–2 Sierra Leone (World Cup qualification) - Draw
- September 6: Senegal 1–1 Burkina Faso (AFCON qualification) - Draw
- September 10: Burkina Faso 3–1 Malawi (AFCON qualification) - Win
- October 10: Burkina Faso 4–1 Burundi (AFCON qualification) - Win
- October 13: Burundi 0–2 Burkina Faso (AFCON qualification) - Win
- November 14: Burkina Faso 0–1 Senegal (AFCON qualification) - Loss
- November 18: Malawi 3–0 Burkina Faso (AFCON qualification) - Loss
Matches in 2025
- March 21: Burkina Faso 4–1 Djibouti (World Cup qualification) - Win
- March 24: Guinea-Bissau 1–2 Burkina Faso (World Cup qualification) - Win
- June 2: Tunisia vs. Burkina Faso (Friendly) - Result to be determined
- September: Djibouti vs. Burkina Faso (World Cup qualification) - Fixture
- September: Burkina Faso vs. Egypt (World Cup qualification) - Fixture
- October: Sierra Leone vs. Burkina Faso (World Cup qualification) - Fixture
- October: Burkina Faso vs. Ethiopia (World Cup qualification) - Fixture
- December 24: Burkina Faso vs. Equatorial Guinea (AFCON Group Stage) - Fixture
- December 28: Algeria vs. Burkina Faso (AFCON Group Stage) - Fixture
- December 31: Sudan vs. Burkina Faso (AFCON Group Stage) - Fixture
Team Staff and Players
Coaching Staff
The people who help train and manage the team are:
Current Squad Players
These are the players who were recently called up for friendly matches in June 2025. Caps (games played) and goals are correct as of March 24, 2025, after the match against Guinea-Bissau.
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GK | Hervé Koffi | 16 October 1996 | 62 | 0 | ![]() |
|
GK | Farid Ouédraogo | 26 December 1996 | 10 | 0 | ![]() |
|
GK | Kilian Nikiema | 22 June 2003 | 7 | 0 | ![]() |
|
GK | Ladji Brahima Sanou | 21 April 2003 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
|
||||||
DF | Issoufou Dayo | 6 August 1991 | 82 | 9 | ![]() |
|
DF | Edmond Tapsoba | 2 February 1999 | 51 | 1 | ![]() |
|
DF | Issa Kaboré | 12 May 2001 | 47 | 2 | ![]() |
|
DF | Saïdou Simporé | 31 August 1992 | 22 | 1 | ![]() |
|
DF | Adamo Nagalo | 22 September 2002 | 16 | 0 | ![]() |
|
DF | Nasser Djiga | 15 November 2002 | 10 | 1 | ![]() |
|
DF | Abdoul Ayinde | 17 July 2005 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
DF | Ismaëlo Ganiou | 14 March 2005 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
DF | Arsène Kouassi | 11 September 2004 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
DF | Hassane Rachid Traoré | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
||
|
||||||
MF | Cedric Badolo | 4 November 1998 | 27 | 0 | ![]() |
|
MF | Stephane Aziz Ki | 6 March 1996 | 17 | 2 | ![]() |
|
MF | Josué Tiendrébéogo | 21 November 2002 | 6 | 1 | ![]() |
|
MF | Mohamed Zougrana | 29 October 2001 | 2 | 1 | ![]() |
|
MF | Raouf Memel Dao | 5 September 2003 | 2 | 0 | ![]() |
|
MF | Abdoul Yoda | 20 December 2000 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
|
||||||
FW | Bertrand Traoré | 6 September 1995 | 79 | 21 | ![]() |
|
FW | Hassane Bandé | 30 October 1998 | 36 | 3 | ![]() |
|
FW | Mohamed Konaté | 12 December 1997 | 32 | 6 | ![]() |
|
FW | Ousseni Bouda | 28 April 2000 | 10 | 2 | ![]() |
|
FW | Jack Diarra | 16 June 2006 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
FW | Cyriaque Irié | 20 June 2005 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
|
FW | Pierre Landry Kabore | 5 July 2001 | 0 | 0 | ![]() |
Team Records
Here are some of the top players in the team's history, based on how many games they played and how many goals they scored. Players whose names are in bold are still playing for Burkina Faso.
Most Games Played
Rank | Player | Caps | Goals | Career |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Charles Kaboré | 102 | 4 | 2006–2021 |
2 | Steeve Yago | 89 | 1 | 2013–present |
3 | Jonathan Pitroipa | 84 | 19 | 2006–2019 |
4 | Moumouni Dagano | 83 | 34 | 1998–2013 |
Bakary Koné | 83 | 0 | 2006–2019 | |
Bertrand Traoré | 83 | 22 | 2011–present | |
7 | Issoufou Dayo | 82 | 9 | 2012–present |
8 | Aristide Bancé | 79 | 24 | 2003–2019 |
9 | Saïdou Panandétiguiri | 66 | 2 | 2002–2013 |
Alain Traoré | 66 | 21 | 2006–2021 |
Top Goal Scorers
Rank | Player | Goals | Caps | Ratio | Career |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Moumouni Dagano | 34 | 83 | 0.41 | 1998–2013 |
2 | Aristide Bancé | 24 | 79 | 0.3 | 2003–2019 |
3 | Bertrand Traoré | 22 | 83 | 0.27 | 2011–present |
4 | Alain Traoré | 21 | 66 | 0.32 | 2006–2021 |
5 | Jonathan Pitroipa | 19 | 84 | 0.23 | 2006–2019 |
6 | Lassina Traoré | 14 | 30 | 0.47 | 2017–present |
7 | Mamadou Zongo | 13 | 30 | 0.43 | 1996–2013 |
Préjuce Nakoulma | 13 | 53 | 0.25 | 2012–2019 | |
9 | Dango Ouattara | 10 | 30 | 0.33 | 2021–present |
Amadou Touré | 10 | 30 | 0.33 | 1998–2006 | |
Oumar Barro | 10 | 48 | 0.21 | 1996–2003 |
Competitive Tournament Records
FIFA World Cup Performance
Burkina Faso has not yet qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Here's how they have done in the qualification rounds:
FIFA World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
1930 to 1958 | Part of ![]() |
Part of ![]() |
|||||||||||||
as ![]() |
|||||||||||||||
![]() |
Not a FIFA member | Not a FIFA member | |||||||||||||
1966 to 1974 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
as ![]() |
|||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
![]() |
Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 17 | ||||||||
![]() ![]() |
8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 10 | |||||||||
![]() |
10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 13 | |||||||||
![]() |
12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 16 | |||||||||
![]() |
8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 7 | |||||||||
![]() |
8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | |||||||||
![]() |
6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 4 | |||||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() |
To be determined | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 7 | ||||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() |
To be determined | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||||
Total | 0/15 | 72 | 32 | 15 | 25 | 112 | 89 |
Africa Cup of Nations Performance
Burkina Faso has participated in the Africa Cup of Nations many times. Their best result was finishing as runners-up in 2013.
Africa Cup of Nations record | Qualification record | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | ||||
![]() |
Part of ![]() |
Part of ![]() |
||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
Played as ![]() |
Player as ![]() |
|||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Not affiliated to CAF | Not affiliated to CAF | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
![]() |
Withdrew | Withdrew | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |||||||||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Group stage | 8th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||||||||||
Played as ![]() |
Played as ![]() |
|||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||
![]() |
8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 13 | ||||||||||||
![]() |
Withdrew | Withdrew | ||||||||||||||||
![]() |
Group stage | 15th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | ||||
![]() |
Fourth place | 4th | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | Qualified as hosts | |||||||||
![]() ![]() |
Group stage | 15th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | ||||
![]() |
13th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | |||||
![]() |
14th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 2 | |||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 13 | |||||||||||
![]() |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | ||||||||||||
![]() |
Group stage | 13th | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 16 | ||||
![]() ![]() |
15th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | |||||
![]() |
Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
![]() |
Group stage | 16th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | ||||
![]() |
Third place | 3rd | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | ||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | |||||||||||
![]() |
Fourth place | 4th | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | ||||
![]() |
Round of 16 | 13th | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | ||||
![]() |
Qualified | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | |||||||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() |
To be determined | To be determined | ||||||||||||||||
Total | Runners-up | 14/35 | 52 | 10 | 17 | 25 | 51 | 78 | 112 | 53 | 26 | 33 | 151 | 133 |
African Nations Championship (CHAN)
This tournament is for players who play in their home country's league.
Team Honours and Awards
Continental Awards
Regional Awards
- UEMOA Tournament
- Champions (1): 2013
- West African Nations Cup
- Third place (1): 1982
- Mapinduzi Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2025
Summary of Awards
Senior Competitions | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
CAF African Cup of Nations | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Total | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
See also
In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Burkina Faso para niños