Unpaid bonuses, substandard hotel, uncontracted manager: the crisis shaking Senegal at the World Cup

Senegal did not only lose to France 3-1 on Tuesday evening in New York during the opening of their 2026 World Cup campaign: the Lions of Teranga are going through a profound institutional crisis, revealed Friday by media outlet SportNewsAfrica.

According to the report, the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has not paid players the bonuses they are entitled to, despite substantial revenue received in recent months — notably FIFA bonuses linked to qualification for this World Cup and income from winning the Africa Cup of Nations final. The FSF’s coffers would therefore be far from empty, which makes the failure to pay all the more poorly received within the squad.

To the financial grievances are added logistical conditions deemed unworthy of African champions. The hotel assigned to the national team would be “absolutely not to the standards of a team of this caliber,” according to SportNewsAfrica. Unlike the base camp set up in Tangier during the last Africa Cup of Nations, the delegation in the United States also lacks a head chef, with some players forced to order meals from outside.

Meanwhile, federation members reportedly brought their families and close relatives to the United States in large numbers, constituting according to the media “an oversized and budget-draining delegation, entirely at the FSF’s expense.”

The most concerning case concerns the manager himself. Pape Thiaw reportedly has not been paid for five months, and his contract would have expired without a new agreement being formalized. He is therefore managing his team in a World Cup without an established contractual framework.

SportNewsAfrica evokes a “series of major dysfunctions and choices dictated by the Federation” liable to “implode the squad in the middle of the American tournament.” For now, these tensions reportedly have not disrupted the group’s preparation, which is focusing on its next match against Norway, a crucial appointment to maintain its chances of qualifying for the round of 16.