'Potential breaches' - Senegal face FIFA probe over World Cup rules ahead of last-16 England match

Senegal are under investigation from the FIFA Disciplinary Committee over “potential breaches” ahead of their World Cup round-of-16 match against England.

Aliou Cisse’s men finished behind the Netherlands as runners-up of Group A after Senegal’s 2-1 victory over Ecuador on Tuesday.

Ismaila Sarr scored from the spot-kick in the first half before Moises Caicedo pulled back a second-half equaliser for Ecuador in their Group A clash.

However, Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly cancelled out Caicedo’s equaliser three minutes later to ensure the African champions progressed to the knockout stages.

Senegal, who beat Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations final back in February, were dealt a major blow for the World Cup after Sadio Mane was ruled out through injury.

However, the AFCON champions have progressed well without their Bayern Munich talisman and will face England in the last 16 at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.

But Senegal are in hot water over their failure to comply with FIFA’s World Cup regulations ahead of their 2-1 win over Ecuador.

FIFA confirmed on Wednesday morning that the Senegalese Football Federation were facing a probe from the World Cup organisers.

Alamy

Every team participating in the World Cup must take part in a ‘Matchday -1 Press Conference’ at least one day before their matches.

As part of the mandatory requirement, the team must have their head coach and a player from their squad at one of the two press conference rooms at the World Cup’s media centre.

Senegal manager Cisse attended a press conference with Chelsea star Koulibaly ahead of their clash with World Cup hosts Qatar.

It is believed that a Senegal player was not present for the press conference ahead of the Ecuador match, with Cisse speaking ‘by himself for roughly 40 minutes.’

FIFA on Wednesday confirmed that it had “opened proceedings” against the Senegalese FA and the breaches related to the aforementioned press conference.

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“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against the Senegalese Football Federation due to the potential 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,” FIFA said in a statement.

“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 previously fined Germany around £8,800 for breaching the same offence ahead of their match with Spain on Sunday.

And it now seems likely that the Senegalese FA will face similar repercussions to Germany after FIFA issued a fine for the aforementioned offence.