Aston Villa forward Bertrand Traoré has been included in Burkina Faso's preliminary 29-man squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The 26-year-old is among 10 forwards who made it to the provisional squad, which also includes Standard Liege attacker Abdoul Fessal Tapsoba.

The Stallions will be under the stewardship of coach Kamou Malo for the continental tournament, his first major competition since he was appointed to the position in July 2019.

Burkina Faso missed the last AFCON edition hosted by Egypt after failing to qualify.

The West Africans finished as second-runners up in the 2017 FCON tournament held in Gabon after they lost to Egypt in the semi-final stage.

Burkina Faso's best performance at AFCON came in 2013 when they finished as runners-up in the tournament hosted by South Africa. The Stallions lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the final game.

Here's a look at the Burkinabe provisional squad in contention for the 2021 AFCON;

Provisional Squad

GOALKEEPERS: Hervé Kouakou KOFFI (Sporting de Charleroi, Belgium), Farid Sofiane OUÉDRAOGO (Majestic SC, Burkina Faso), Kilian NIKIEMA (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands), Aboubacar Babayouré SAWADOGO (RC Kadiogo, Burkina Faso)

DEFENDERS: Edmond TAPSOBA (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Issoufou DAYO (RS Berkane, Morocco), Yacouba Nasser DJIGA (FC Basel, Switzerland), Soumaïla OUATTARA (FUS de Rabat, Morocco), Steeve YAGO (Aris Limassol, Cyprus), Issa KABORE (Troyes, France), Patrick MALO (Hassania Agadir, Morocco), Oula Abass TRAORÉ (Horoya AC, Guinea), Hermann NIKIEMA (SALITAS FC, Burkina Faso)

MIDFIELDERS: Gustavo Fabrice SANGARÉ (Quevilly-Rouen, France), Dramane NIKIEMA (Horoya AC, Guinea), Adama GUIRA (Racing Rioja CF, Spain), Blati TOURÉ (AFC Eskilstuna, Sweden), Ismahila OUEDRAOGO (PAOK Salonika, Greece), Saïdou SIMPORÉ (Ittihad Alexandria, Egypt)

FORWARDS: Bertrand TRAORÉ (Aston Villa, England), Zakaria SANOGO (Ararat-Armenia, Armenia), Cyrille BAYALA (AC Ajaccio , France), Éric TRAORE (Pyramids FC, Egypt), Mohamed KONATE (Akhmat Grozny, Russia), Dango Aboubacar Faissal OUATTARA (FC Lorient, France), Boureima Hassane BANDÉ (NK Istra, Croatia), Abdoul Fessal TAPSOBA (Standard de Liège, Belgium), Jean Botué Fiacre KOUAMÉ (AC Ajaccio, France), Cheick Djibril OUATTARA (Olympique de Safi, Morocco)