🚨 THE LIONS OF TERANGA, ABANDONED BY THEIR OWN.
Senegal reached the 2026 World Cup and lost 3-1 to France in its debut. But the real scandal was not on the pitch: it happened much earlier, behind closed doors at the training camp at Rutgers University, New Jersey. According to Sport News Africa — echoed by RMC Sport and other European media — the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) did not pay the bonuses promised to the players for the Africa Cup of Nations or for qualifying for the World Cup. The hotel catering was described as “mediocre and inadequate for the demands of high-level sport”, to the point that several footballers had to order food from outside the camp to meet their nutritional needs. 🍕📦
As if that were not enough, coach Pape Thiaw has gone approximately five months without receiving his salary and is managing with his contract already expired. All this while the FSF received 1.500.000 dollars in advance from FIFA for World Cup preparation — a detail that further fueled the squad’s anger. 💸😤
The federation’s first vice president, Babacar Ndiaye, came out to deny the scandal and described it as an “attempt at defamation”, assuring that the team has two Senegalese chefs. But the Lions of Teranga already have a match next Monday against Norway that they cannot afford to lose. How do you ask for maximum performance from a player who was not paid what they were promised? 🦁