page_title: Senegal
section_title: Football
hierarchical_section_title: Senegal / Culture / Sport / Football
caption_attribution_description: English: Senegal vs Poland match
context_page_description: Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegal's economic and political capital is Dakar.
  It is a unitary presidential republic and is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. It owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has a population of around 16 million. The state was formed as part of the independence of French West Africa from French colonial rule. Because of this history, the official language is French. Like other post-colonial African states, the country includes a wide mix of ethnic and linguistic communities, with the largest being the Wolof and Arab people, and the Wolof and Arab languages acting as a lingua franca.
context_section_description: Football is the most popular sport in Senegal. In 2002 and 2019, the national team were runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations and became one of only three African teams to ever reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup, defeating holders France in their first game. Popular players for Senegal include El Hadji Diouf, Khalilou Fadiga, Henri Camara, Papa Bouba Diop, Salif Diao, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ferdinand Coly, and Sadio Mané, all of whom have played in Europe.
  Senegal qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in Group H alongside Japan, Colombia, and Poland.
caption: Senegalese football fans at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia
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