Senegal Bets on Mane and Koulibaly to Carry Its Run
Pape Thiaw has built Senegal’s 28-man World Cup squad around veteran stars Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly, banking on experience to offset a brutal group.
Senegal’s message is clear: the old core still holds the leverage. Coach Pape Thiaw named Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly in a 28-man World Cup squad on Thursday, with Mane returning as the headline figure after missing the 2022 tournament through injury, according to 
Reuters and 
Al Jazeera. Senegal must still cut two players before FIFA’s final deadline next month, but the political point of the selection is already set: Thiaw is choosing continuity over a reset.
Experience is the currency
Mane is still Senegal’s central asset. The 34-year-old Al Nassr forward remains the country’s all-time leading scorer with 53 goals in 126 appearances, and he is expected to lead the line alongside Nicolas Jackson, Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, Reuters reported. Koulibaly and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy anchor the back end of the team, giving Senegal a spine built on players who have already been through the pressure cycles of international knockout football.
That matters because Senegal are not entering as a dark horse anymore. They have been cast by Reuters as the most potent of Africa’s 10 World Cup qualifiers, and the squad blends senior figures with a younger layer that includes Bayern Munich’s 18-year-old midfielder Bara Ndiaye and Chelsea defender Mamadou Sarr, who were highlighted in 
BBC Sport and 
The Athletic. Thiaw’s calculation is simple: the veterans set the ceiling; the youth determine whether Senegal can sustain intensity across three group games.
A squad built for a hard group
The bracket is unforgiving. Senegal open against France on June 16 in New Jersey, then face Norway and Iraq in Group I, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera. That opener is loaded with symbolism: Senegal beat France at the 2002 World Cup, and the matchup now functions as both a rematch and a benchmark. If Senegal want to turn prestige into power, France is the first test of whether this generation can still compete at the top level.
That is why the selection also carries an institutional message. Senegal reached the quarterfinals in 2002, then exited in the group stage in 2018 and the round of 16 in 2022. For the players who define the country’s “golden generation,” Mane included, this may be the last realistic chance to improve that record, Reuters noted. Thiaw is not merely naming a squad; he is preserving a national project built around a few recognizable names while the supporting cast gets younger and more interchangeable.
What to watch next
The next decision point is the mandated cut to 26 players before the FIFA deadline, which The Athletic put at June 2. That trim will show whether Thiaw is protecting depth or signaling trust in a narrower core. The other marker is form: if Mane and Koulibaly arrive healthy and sharp, Senegal’s path through a difficult group becomes much more credible. If either declines physically, the whole design narrows fast.
For readers tracking the wider stakes, this is also a useful case study in 
Global Politics: how a national team uses elite veterans, diaspora talent and European club experience to project power beyond the pitch.
