By a Correspondent
Senegal’s football federation has revealed that concerns over the national team’s medical support emerged during the FIFA World Cup, with federation president Abdoulaye Fall (pictured) saying players were uneasy about the qualifications of the team’s doctor.
Speaking at a press conference reviewing Senegal’s disappointing campaign, Fall said the federation discovered late in the tournament that the team doctor had been “trained as a gynaecologist”, prompting concerns among players about the level of medical care available.
“Based on the feedback I received, the players were not sufficiently reassured about being supported by him,” Fall said.
He said the federation was forced to seek additional medical expertise to restore players’ confidence.
“We had to find convincing expertise so they could feel reassured, because health comes before everything,” he said.
However, the Senegalese Association of Sports Medicine strongly rejected the claims, describing them as “unfounded and defamatory” in a statement issued on Monday.
The association said team doctor Abderahmane Fediore holds a specialist diploma in sports medicine and sports biology from the Faculty of Medicine at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.
It added that Fediore has served as Senegal’s national team doctor since 2017, including at three FIFA World Cups and five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. He also previously headed the physiotherapy department at Fann Hospital.
The controversy comes as Senegal’s football federation begins a post-mortem of a tournament that fell well below expectations.
Head coach Pape Bouna Thiaw was dismissed on Saturday after Senegal’s early exit from the World Cup.
The Lions of Teranga entered the tournament among the favourites after winning January’s Africa Cup of Nations by defeating Morocco in the final. However, they lost their opening Group matches against France and Norway before suffering a dramatic last-32 elimination by Belgium, squandering a 2-0 lead with five minutes remaining before losing 3-2 after extra time.
