With 9 goals in ten matchdays, Paris FC forward Lassine Sinayoko features in the probable Mali XI against Rwanda on Friday in Bamako. A late-blooming revelation forged at Auxerre.
Mali host Rwanda on Friday 13 November 2026 at 19:00 GMT at the Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako, a match between two national teams level on six points. And the man to watch on the Malian side is a forward who spent a long time under the radar: Lassine Sinayoko, who “features” in the probable XI built around Hamari Traoré, Aliou Dieng and Mamadou Sangaré, according to Africa Top Sports. No official line-up has yet been confirmed.
Ligue 1’s top scorer with 9 goals and the league’s third-best provider with 5 assists after ten matchdays, the Paris FC player arrives with the national team in a new status. His former coach at Auxerre, Christophe Pélissier, had moved him into the centre-forward role.
The click of a new position
The numbers tell the story of a turning point. Before his 12 goals in the 2025-2026 season with Auxerre, Sinayoko had scored only 19 goals in 140 Ligue 1 matches, RMC Sport recalls. It was his coach at the time, Christophe Pélissier, who fixed him through the middle of the attack.
“I am not at all surprised by Lassine’s start to the season. I called him at the beginning of the week to tell him, this is the reward for his work,” the coach told RMC Sport. And he measured his past contribution: “He helped us enormously to stay up. I had done the calculation, he was involved in 72% of our goals. I gave him responsibilities and it made him grow.”
From that trust a goalscorer was born: 12 goals last season in the Auxerre shirt, then a start to the 2026-2027 campaign in which he is the league’s top scorer.
A midfield of high value
Around him, head coach Anthony Da Silva can rely on a midfield in which Mamadou Sangaré is announced as a starter, according to FootAfrica. His transfer from Lens to Brentford on 1 August 2026 for around €48 million excluding bonuses is the record sale in RC Lens’s history, ahead of Openda and Khusanov.
The Malian side opened the campaign with a 3-1 win against Cape Verde then a 1-0 win in Liberia, according to Mali 24 and beIN Sports. Above all, they remain unbeaten in four meetings with Rwanda.
Paris FC lying in wait
After the international break, Sinayoko will return to his club, Paris FC, who travel to Lens on 21 November 2026, according to LesViolets.
The Malian line-up remains to be confirmed: Sinayoko’s presence up front comes from the probable XI reported by the press, not from an official confirmation by Da Silva.