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Senegal coach Aliou Cisse was discharged from the hospital after recovering from a stomach problem.
He is expected to resume duties as coach of Senegal, as they prepare for their final group game against Guinea.
On Friday, Cisse superintended over Senegal’s qualification to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations after a 3-1 win over Cameroun.
This is the third time the AFCON winner has progressed Senegal to the knockout stages of the tournament.
Here are some interesting facts about Aliou Cisse.
Forged in France
The 47-year-old was born in Ziguinchor, capital of the coastal area of Casamance, Senegal.
Shortly after Aliou’s birth, the Cisse family moved to France. He was just nine years at the time.
Like many African kids in France, Aliou took to football.
His talent was instantly noticeable, and was eventually signed by Lille’s academy.
Although Cisse was promoted to the first team, he only made six appearances for Lille in a three year period.
At the end of the 1996/97 season, Cisse left Lille to join CS Sedan.
Things did not improve at Sedan and Cisse left to join Paris Saint Germain after a season of making no appearance.
Long before PSG became the money bags they are today, Aliou Cisse played for them
At PSG, Cisse made more appearances – 43 – between 1998 and 2002.
International career.
While playing for PSG, Cisse’s international career took off. Between 1999 and 2005, Cisse made a total of 33 appearances for his country.
As captain of the Teranga Lions, Cisse led his team to a famous win over then defending World champions, France in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup in 2002.
Senegal progressed to the quarter final stage of the World Cup, but were eliminated by Turkey.
In 2002, Cisse was captain of Senegal when they lost the Africa Cup of Nations final to Cameroun on penalties.
Cisse captained Senegal at the 2002 World Cup
Family tragedy
In September 2002, Cisse suffered a family tragedy when 11 of his relatives died in a ferry that sank travelling from Gambia to Senegal.
Cisse, who was then at Premier League side, Birmingham City, did not tell anyone for days and kept going about his business and continued to train and work hard.
Then Senegal captain, Cisse participated in a charity match between Senegal and Nigeria to raise money for the families of 1000s of victims.
Coaching career
Alious Cisse has enjoyed a successful coaching career
Cisse’s first coaching stint with the national team was in 2012 – three years after he retired from football.
He served in an assistant’s capacity to both Joseph Koto and Alain Giresse until March 2015.
Giresse was sacked after failing to progress past the group stage despite winning their opening Group game against Ghana.
Cisse was promoted to replace him despite having no prior experience as first-team manager.Cisse’s first task was to qualify Senegal for AFCON 2017 and the FIFA World Cup 2018.
He achieved both. At AFCON 2017, Senegal topped Group B with seven points but were eliminated on penalties by eventual winners Cameroun in the next round.
Cisse at the 2018 World Cup in Russia
In November of that year, Cisse qualified Senegal for the FIFA World Cup 2018 after a 2-0 win over South Africa.
At the tournament, Senegal suffered a group stage exit via the fair play tie-breaker rules.
It was the first time in the history of the competition that the tie breaker had decided a team’s fate.
A year later, Cisse led Senegal to their first AFCON final since 2002.
However, it ended in disappointment when they lost to Algeria.Despite the loss, Cisse’s contract was extended to 2021.
Cisse repaid the Federation’s faith in him when he won AFCON 2021 in Cameroun after a 4-2 penalty shootout win over record AFCON winners, Egypt.
Aliou Cisse is joined by his players to celebrate Senegal’s first AFCON title
He also qualified and led Senegal to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
At the World Cup, Senegal progressed to the knockout stages for the first time since 2002.
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