Koulibaly embraces new era with Senegal

Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly says his teammates are not thinking about the appointment of a new permanent coach for the national side and are focused on working under interim boss Pape Thiaw.

Senegal booked their place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals last month with wins over Malawi (4-0 & 1-0), the first games in charge for Thiaw following the departure of the long-serving Aliou Cisse.

Thiaw will be in the dug-out again as Senegal travel to Bamako to face Burkina Faso and host Burundi as they seek to finish top of Group L.

“It is a new era, we are going to see what happens,” Koulibaly told SuperSport.com. “For the moment we have a coach in Pape Thiaw, who is doing a good job as you can see from the last two games.

“We have all the confidence in the coach and we will see what happens (with his position in the future) but for the moment we are all focussed with this coach and his staff.”

Cisse, the former captain of the national team who led them to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002, was in charge of the Senegal senior national team for nine years and coached them at two World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

Koulibaly, 33, will be hoping to transfer his good form with Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal to the national team.

He is in his second season in Saudi Arabia following his move from Chelsea and has helped his side to the top of the table in the domestic league as they look to defend their title.

They are also top of their Asian Champions League pool with four wins from four, most recently a 3-0 success over Pitso Mosimane’s Iranian side Esteghlal.