Ndiaye wants Senegal to break the same glass ceiling as Morocco at 2026 World Cup

Iliman Ndiaye set the bar high before Senegal’s opening match at the 2026 World Cup against France: “We really want to bring the World Cup to Africa,” said the Everton striker, insisting that the Lions of Teranga fear no one. “We look any team straight in the eye.”

To back up this ambition, Ndiaye draws on Morocco’s precedent. “Morocco broke a glass ceiling,” he stated, paying tribute to the Lions of the Atlas, the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup in 2022, after eliminating Spain and then Portugal.

Today’s fixture recalls a painful memory for France: at the 2002 World Cup, El-Hadji Diouf and his teammates upset the defending champions in the opening match (1-0). Twenty-four years later, it is a Senegal with vastly increased ambitions that challenges France and Kylian Mbappé.

Ndiaye also took a stand on the controversy arising from the Africa Cup of Nations final played last January against that same Morocco. Incidents during the match opened the door to a possible decision by default. The former Olympique de Marseille player leaves no room for doubt: “I feel like an African champion, regardless of the officials’ decision. It’s the truth on the pitch that must prevail. And it was Senegal that won on the pitch.”