ASKO

Korofina is one of the neighbourhoods that make up Commune I in Bamako, and for most of two decades the district's football has run through ASKO. The club took shape there in 2006, entering the Malien Première Division that same season straight from formation rather than climbing up to it.

What marks ASKO out in a capital crowded with older, better-known sides is the shirt. The team wore sky blue and white stripes until president Makan Keïta had it changed for the 2008-2009 season to plain orange, a colour he wanted to stand for peace and gaiety. The choice stuck harder than the results did: supporters and the local press settled on calling the team "The Oranges of Korofina," and the nickname has outlasted whichever league position the club happened to hold.

That position has mostly been in the second tier. ASKO reached a Coupe du Mali semi-final in 2011, the year goalkeeper Ibrahim Bosso Mounkoro left Korofina for TP Mazembe, but the club has never taken the national title. Seven years out of the top flight ended in 2020, when ASKO won the Championnat de D2 du District de Bamako and went back up. Its ground, the Stade Modibo Kéïta, holds 35,000, though the promotion itself was sealed at the far smaller Stade Mamadou Konaté.

ASKO has no derby with a name attached to it, but Bamako gives it rivals all the same: Djoliba AC, Stade Malien and AS Real Bamako, three clubs with the honours ASKO still lacks, and every meeting with them is played as a chance to close that gap.