Mini football figure - Senegal

Senegal

The Senegalese national football team is the selection team of the Senegalese Football Federation and represents Senegal at international level in international matches against teams from other national associations. Their greatest successes came with a place in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup and their first major title win at the 2022 Africa Cup.

World Cup 2002

At the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the Senegalese national team caused an unimaginable sensation in their first match by beating defending champions and tournament favourites France 1-0. In the euphoria, the team earned two draws against Denmark (1-1) and Uruguay (3-3) to reach the last 16. There they defeated Sweden 2-1 after extra time; Henri Camara scored both goals. It was not until the quarter-finals that Senegal lost 1-0 after extra time to another surprise World Cup team, Turkey. The victory made Senegal one of the most successful World Cup debutants since 1950.

African Championships

Senegal qualified for the Africa Cup for the first time in 1965. The team was eliminated undefeated in the preliminary round after a draw in favour of Tunisia. In their second appearance in 1968, Senegal failed to beat Ghana and DR Congo in the preliminary round and were eliminated again.

It was not until 18 years later, in 1986, that Senegal qualified again. In the preliminary round, they surprisingly beat Mozambique as well as the eventual winners Egypt, but lost to Côte d'Ivoire and failed again in the first round.

Finally, in 1990, Senegal managed to play their way to the semi-finals, with only one win, as only eight teams took part in the tournament. In the end, the team finished fourth, the biggest success in Senegalese football outside West Africa up to that time.

In 1992, Senegal was even allowed to host the tournament. However, the team could not quite fulfil the high expectations, losing to Cameroon in the quarter-finals.

In 1994 and 2000, the Senegalese again failed to reach the quarter-finals. The big breakthrough came in 2002, when they reached the tournament final and only lost to Cameroon on penalties.

In 2004, Senegal lost to eventual champions Tunisia in the quarter-finals. In 2006, they finished fourth. At the 2008 African Championship, they were eliminated in the preliminary round. Since then, Senegal's performance has not lived up to expectations. In the qualification for the 2010 World Cup, they failed to qualify for the 2010 African Championship.

Senegal qualified for the 2012 African Football Championship with five wins and one draw and was considered one of the tournament favourites before the start of the tournament - also because some other strong teams failed to qualify. However, after three defeats against teams ranked lower in the FIFA World Ranking, Senegal were eliminated in the preliminary round. As a result of the elimination, coach Amara Traoré was dismissed on 8 February 2012.

At the 2019 African Championship in Egypt, the team reached the final for the second time after 2002, but was defeated by the Algerian team.

At the 2022 African Championship in Cameroon, the Senegalese national team won the title of African champion for the first time. In the final on 6 February 2022, they beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties after 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra time.

Copa Amilcar

Senegal have participated in the Amílcar Cabral Cup, the tournament for West African national teams, since it was first held in 1979. The exception to this was in 2001, when the country's U23s played and won the tournament in Cape Verde.

Senegal has won the Amílcar Cabral Cup 8 times (1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 2001), more often than any other team in West Africa.