When Senegal reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, there was an element of surprise but that was two decades ago.
The West African nation has since invested more in grassroots development and this foundation has been showing the fruits especially in the last decade and their current success is not a surprise to anyone at all.
Senegal have reached three consecutive U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals and despite losing on all occasions have played at the resulting World Cups and this is at the heart of the country’s continued youth success.
The Teranga Lions reached the quarterfinals of the AFCON 2017 in Gabon and improved their performance by reaching the final of the next edition in Egypt two years later losing 1-0 to Algeria.
Aliou Cisse’s efforts were rewarded last February when he lifted the country’s first ever AFCON trophy after defeating Egypt 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw after an end-to-end final.
The former Senegal captain also guided the Teranga Lions to back-to-back World Cups in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar reaching the Round of 16 at the latter one.