Senegalese football legend Aliou Cisse has been fired as the Senegalese Head Coach after leading the Teranga Lions for nine and a half years.
The 48-year-old won the postponed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in February 2022, leading Senegal to their first continental championship.
The Sports Ministry, under Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s new government, has decided to terminate Cisse’s tenure just nine days before the next round of qualifications, despite the country’s football federation (FSF) wanting the deal maintained.
“The FSF would like to thank Aliou Cisse for his good collaboration and his brilliant results at the head of various national selections and wishes him every success for the future,” stated the statement.
Athough there have occasionally been tense relations between the FSF and the government, who provide the coach’s wage, the timing of the move was unexpected.
For this month’s doubleheader against Malawi, Cisse had previously scheduled a news conference for this Friday to reveal his squad.
