Reigning African champions Senegal have officially been sanctioned by FIFA for breaching 2022 World Cup rules ahead of their clash with Ecuador earlier this week.
Senegal are gearing up for their first-ever meeting with England, with the two sides set to face off in their round of 16 fixture on Sunday night.
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It could be a daunting task ahead for Aliou Cisse's side as the Three Lions have never been beaten by an African team in all 20 of their previous meetings across all competitions with them.
Ahead of the global tournament, the high-flying Lions of Teranga were widely considered to be CAF's best hope of putting up a strong challenge at the World Cup, and their 2-1 victory over Ecuador on Tuesday saw them claim six points in Group A, the most they have had at the end of a group stage in their history in the competition.
However, they have now been slapped with a 10 000 Swiss Francs (about R188 000) fine for the team's failure to have a player from the squad present at a pre-match press conference.
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Cisse showed up for the presser ahead of the Ecuador game by himself, which was found to be a violation as FIFA's rules stipulate that it is mandatory to also have a player in attendance at such briefings.
A statement from world football's governing body confirmed: "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Senegalese Football Federation with a fine in the amount of CHF 10,000 and a warning for 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."
The Germany national team was handed a similar sanction after head coach Hansi Flick appeared at the media centre alone ahead of his side's clash with Spain last weekend, with the tactician explaining that he did not want his players "to sit in the car for a total of three hours" just to attend a press conference before a vital game.
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