Senegal hit with £8,700 fine before crunch last-16 tie against England

England’s World Cup last-16 opponents Senegal are hit with an £8,700 fine after they failed to send a player with boss Aliou Cisse to the press conference ahead of their decisive group stage win over Ecuador

  • African side slapped with the same punishment that FIFA handed to Germany
  • Senegal’s failure to provide player for their Ecuador press conference punished
  • FIFA handed them a £8,700 fine in unwelcome distraction ahead of England
  • Follow Sportsmail’s daily World Cup live blog for all updates from Qatar 

Senegal have been handed a £8,700 fine for failing to provide a player for their pre-Ecuador press conference. 

FIFA rules stipulate that the day before each World Cup fixture, countries must supply the head coach and a player for a press conference. 

Aliou Cisse attended the country’s press conference on his own – contravening on one of FIFA’s stringent rules ahead of their Ecuador tie. 

Aliou Cisse arrived at the press conference on his own – with Senegal fined as a result

A FIFA statement confirmed: ‘The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Senegalese Football Federation with a fine in the amount of CHF 10,000 (£8,700) and a warning for breaches of article 44 of the Regulations for the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, article 2.7.2 of the Media and Marketing Regulations and article 8.5.3 of the Team Handbook.

‘The potential breaches relate to the mandatory press conference that took place on 28 November ahead of the Ecuador v. Senegal FIFA World Cup match.’

FIFA’s rulebook, circulated to each country prior to the tournament, states: ‘Ensure that Delegation Members requested by FIFA (including the head coach and multiple players) attend and participate in press conferences and interviews at such locations as requested by FIFA. 

It is unclear as to why Cisse did not bring a player with him to the press conference ahead of Ecuador

Senegal had put up Krepin Diatta and Kalidou Koulibaly for Holland and Qatar, respectively. It is unclear why a player wasn’t supplied for their final group fixture. 

The Senegalese FA, hit in the pocket by the fine, will have had their annoyance softened by the side’s strong performance to reach the last-16 and set up a clash with England. 

Goals from Ismaila Sarr and Kalidou Koulibaly, of Watford and Chelsea respectively, grabbed the goals that sent Senegal through. 

The fine dished out to Senegal has echoes of the one handed to Germany earlier in the tournament, when they failed to provide a player – to attend alongside Hansi Flick – for their pre-Spain press conference. 

Hansi Flick cut a lonesome figure when he arrived for Germany’s pre-Spain press conference without a player

It had been suggested that it was part of the team’s wider protests against FIFA for not allowing them to wear the OneLove armband that they and a number of other European nations – including England and Wales – had planned to wear. 

Germany were fined £8,800 and Flick explained the reason behind one of his players failing to attend as him not wanting to inconvenience any of them prior to such a big game.

‘I came alone because we didn’t want a player to spend three hours on the road to come,’ he said.

‘The 26 players are important and everyone has to focus on the game. I’m optimistic.’




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