Aliou Cisse faced the media on his own on Monday
Senegal are set to be the subject of FIFA disciplinary proceedings just days before their World Cup round-of-16 tie against England.
The AFCON champions booked their place in the knockout stages on Tuesday afternoon with a 2-1 win against Ecuador that left them second in Group A behind the Netherlands. Aliou Cisse‘s side lost their opening fixture against the Dutch before going on to beat hosts Qatar and then the South Americans.
Senegal’s progression into the last 16 for just the second time in their history is even more impressive given the late loss of former Liverpool winger Sadio Mane to injury. They are now set to face Gareth Southgate‘s Three Lions on Sunday after they topped Group B.
However, the Senegal FA are set to face a FIFA probe just days before the crucial clash after it was revealed that they failed to comply with the governing body’s regulations before the Ecuador encounter. Every team must have their coach and one player attend a press conference one day prior to each game in one of two press conference rooms at the World Cup’s main media centre.
And on Monday, head coach Cisse spoke for around 40 minutes, but there was no player present and FIFA are thought to be unhappy with that decision. They confirmed on Wednesday that they have since opened disciplinary proceedings against the Lions of Teranga.
A statement read: “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.
“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.”
Senegal will likely be handed a fine for the breach, given that Germany were ordered to pay 10,000 Swiss Francs (around £8,800) for committing the same offence prior to their match against Spain.
Cisse will be without key midfielder Idrissa Gueye on Sunday after the Everton man picked up a second booking in the win against Ecuador.
[Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk]