“If I lose even a second of my perception that I can win the World Cup with Senegal, I’ll step down,” Thiaw mentioned on the eve of the match.
Thiaw, who performed for Senegal on the 2002 World Cup, guided the workforce to that controversial Africa Cup of Nations remaining in January.
Relations between Thiaw and the federation, nevertheless, aren’t as clean as appearances would possibly counsel.
When he took cost in 2024, Thiaw accepted the wage that was supplied to him, about £210,000 per 12 months.
However after the 2025 Afcon run he acquired a degree of energy that allowed him to enter contract extension talks from a a lot stronger place – particularly as his earlier deal had expired instantly after the match.
Talks over his contract extension dragged on.
In Senegal the coach negotiates with the federation, to which he’s contractually tied, however each the signing and the fee of the contract should be accepted by the state – by the ministries answerable for sport and finance.
After months of delay Thiaw was pressured to journey to the US with out having signed his new contract.
That occurred in opposition to a wider political backdrop: Senegal went by a protracted interval of upheaval after the federal government was dismissed and the prime minister faraway from workplace.
The political state of affairs inevitably had a knock-on impact on different sectors.
When folks near Thiaw elevated the strain by the media, warning that he would possibly refuse to board the aircraft to the US, Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye stepped in personally.
He contacted Thiaw straight and warranted him the matter could be resolved as rapidly as doable.
As soon as the brand new sports activities minister, Djireye Clotilde Coly, took workplace, she travelled to the US to attend the primary match in opposition to France, meet the squad and reaffirm the assurances that had been given to Thiaw.
The negotiations then moved ahead and an settlement was finally reached on a contract value £480,000 per 12 months, plus an £80,000 annual bonus.
On Sunday Thiaw mentioned: “It is true it took too lengthy, however it was by no means a cash challenge. It was extra a ideas and respect challenge, however it’s been resolved.
“As Senegalese folks, patriotism is extra essential than anything and the questions across the contract are previously now. It has been signed.”
