The interim coach of the national team, Pape Bouna Thiaw, unveiled, on Thursday, a list of 28 players for the matches against Burkina Faso and Burundi, counting for the fifth and sixth days of Group L of the Cup qualifiers Africa of Nations Morocco 2025, marked by the first selections of Cheikh Sabaly and Ibrahima Seck and the return of Krepin Diatta.
Voted best player of the month for September in French Ligue 2, Cheikh Sabaly from Metz is called up for the first time in the A team.
Sabaly has started the current season in a brilliant way. In eight days, he scored eight goals, including a hat-trick against Martigues, on the sixth day, and a double, against Rodez, on the second day.
The 25-year-old winger has been established since the start of the Ligue 2 championship.
Ibrahima Seck, the 20-year-old midfielder from US Gorée, is also called up to the A national team for the first time.
Absent from the national team since the 2023 African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast (January 13-February 11), the player from Monaco (France) makes his return to the den.
After the premature elimination of Senegal, reigning African champion, during CAN 2023, by the host country, in the round of 16, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) suspended Krepin Diatta for four matches, two of which were suspended. and a fine of 10 00 US dollars (6 million 105 thousand CFA francs), for having made “controversial comments on arbitration”.
The duration of the sanction was to be one year.
Diatta missed several national team matches: the friendly matches in March, at the Licorne stadium in France, against Gabon (3-0) and Benin (1-0), and the first and second days of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo (1-1) and Mauritania (1-0), as well as the matches of the four days of the CAN 2025 qualifiers.
The Senegalese has had very little playing time this season with Monaco. He started and played an entire match, for the first time, last Friday in the league, during the defeat against Angers (0-1).
Here is the list of players summoned:
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Seny Dieng, Cheikh Lo Ndoye
Defenders: Abdoulaye Seck, Kalidou Koulibaly, Abdou Diallo, Ismail Jakobs, Moussa Niakhaté, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Seydou Sano, Formose Mendy, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Abdou Aziz Ndiaye
Midfielders: Pathé Ciss, Pape Guèye, Idrissa Gana Guèye, Pape Matar Sarr, Lamine Camara, Habib Diarra, Ibrahima Seck
Forwards: Iliman Ndiaye, Sadio Mane, Habib Diallo, Ismaila Sarr, Cherif Ndiaye, Nicolas Jackson, Abdullah Sima, Boulaye Dia, Cheikh Sabaly
