Senegal To Extend Cisse’s Contract

President of the Senegalese Football Federation, Augustin Senghor, has confirmed plans to extend the contract of Aliou Cisse as Teranga Lions head coach.

Cisse has been at the helm of the Senegal national team since March 2015 and he is in line to lead the West African country through the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which begin in September.

His current contract is set to expire at the end of August but the Senegalese FA are hoping Cisse leads the country until at least after AFCON 2025 in Morocco.

The final decision is on the table of the Senegalese Ministry of Sports in the coming days as the country targets a second AFCON title next year and a spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Senghor told Galaxie Sports RTS1: “Originally, we were supposed to extend it by one year to cover the next AFCON. With the vagaries, it turns out that the AFCON is postponed to December 2025.

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“The idea would be to offer him a renewal of a year and a half which would cover the next AFCON so that he can try to win his second cup with this generation of players who we know are capable of it.

“But it is the State that pays the coach’s salary and it has its say. We play in September, the contract ends in August, it will be difficult to go towards anything other than an extension.

“We are counting on him to lead the next qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup.”

Senghor also hinted at how Cisse’s performance was assessed after their quarter-final exit at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year and his relationship with the players.

“In the evaluation exercise, we felt that given a certain number of constraints, but also the work that had been accomplished, even if we were eliminated prematurely by the future winner, which is Cote d’Ivoire, Aliou Cisse did a good job,” he added.

“We have a generation that he knows well. We have emergencies in terms of qualification, we had to focus on continuity and that is why the executive committee unanimously decided to renew its confidence in him.”