Attention will shift to Groups C and D in Ivory Coast as defending champions Senegal take on Gambia while Cameroun battle Guinea
While in group D Two times winners Algeria play Angola in Bouke
The Teranga Lions are expected to successfully defend their Africa Cup of Nations title in Ivory Coast this month.
There has never been a time a nation has completely dominated African football like Senegal have done in recent years
Senegal are also reigning continental champions at Under-17 and Under-20 level, and even won the African Nations Championship (CHAN), the competition for domestic-based players for the first time last year.
Senegal’s hold over the African game even stretches to beach soccer, with the country winning the past four continental titles and finishing fourth at the last Beach Soccer World Cup in Russia in 2021.
Aliou Cisse’s men begin their Group C campaign with a derby against The Gambia as they look to become the first side to register back-to-back Afcon triumphs since Egypt won their third in a row in 2010.
Cisse himself was part of Senegal’s original golden generation, which finished as runners-up at the 2002 Afcon before reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup later that year on the country’s debut at the finals.
Former international team-mate El Hadji Diouf believes Senegal’s recent success is the result of both a strong partnership between the government and the country’s football federation and critical investment in facilities.
“Everywhere you go in Senegal, all the cities have academies,” Diouf told BBC Sport Africa.
“They start young, at Under-10, and have tournaments every year. We want to improve that and have the same organisation like in England and France.
“I have to say congratulations and thanks for our government because that’s a policy and they give the money. And the president of the FSF, Augustin Senghor, is working so well.”
