Sadio Mane leads Senegal to AFCON: Defending Champions arrive Côte d'Ivoire in style

It's official—the Senegalese national squad has reached Ivory Coast in time for their Africa Cup of Nations championship defense.

The group landed in Abidjan early on Wednesday morning, led by Sadio Mane, the Al-Nassr star who recently got married.

Before their Group C matches, the AFCON champions will head straight to Yamoussoukro, where they will be stationed.

The players and technical team were seen exiting the plane wearing their all-white African attire in a social media video.

The squad visited President Macky Sall on Tuesday night before departing Dakar, and he gave them an assignment to effectively defend the crown they won two years prior.

Formose Mendy's late goal gave Senegal a 1-0 victory in their final friendly match before leaving Dakar, where they had been camping for the previous two weeks.

On Monday, January 15, the Teranga Lions will play their first AFCON matchup against the neighboring country of Gambia.

In the group's next games, they will also face Cameroon and Guinea.

On Sunday, January 7, 2024, Senegalese winger Sadio Mane wed his partner Aisha Tamba in a charming ceremony in Dakar.

Friends, family, former players, and even current members of the Senegal national team were reported to have attended the lovely occasion.

In addition, the Al-Nassr star went back home to be with his teammates as the African champions began their pre-AFCON 2023 training camp.

Building a new stadium for the residents of his hometown, Bambali, was another way that Mane expanded his development efforts in Senegal.

Prior to his country's training camp in Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations, the Senegalese forward went back home to officially launch the facility.