Senegal and Egypt will meet again on Wednesday in Tangier with a place in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final at stake, a contest loaded with history, resentment and unfinished business between two nations whose rivalry has hardened over nearly four decades.
Their relationship was reshaped in Cairo in February 2006, when Senegal were edged out 2-1 in the semi-finals of a home tournament for Egypt.
The Lions had equalised through Mamadou Niang and believed they were within touching distance of the final before a late penalty decision swung the tie.
Former defender Ferdinand Coly would later describe the night as “a refereeing scandal, a scandalous match against the host country… We were robbed that night. That match still sticks in my craw. You can’t make a team lose in such circumstances.”
That defeat haunted Senegal for years, yet the pendulum eventually swung.
During qualifying for the 2015 finals, the Lions beat Egypt home and away, signalling a shift in the balance.
But the rivalry truly ignited in Cameroon in 2022, when Sadio Mané converted the decisive penalty in the AFCON final after having earlier missed from the spot.
Senegal lifted their first continental crown, while Egypt were left to rue another lost chance at a record-extending eighth title.
Revenge followed swiftly. Two months later the same sides clashed in World Cup play-offs.
Egypt won the first leg in Cairo 1-0 thanks to an own goal by Saliou Ciss, amid a hostile atmosphere in which laser pointers were trained on Senegalese players during set pieces.
Four days later, in Diamniadio, Senegal responded in kind, also benefiting from an own goal in the fourth minute before prevailing on penalties.
The Egyptian FA later complained that “The Egyptian team was subjected to racism after offensive banners targeting the players, particularly captain Mohamed Salah, appeared in the stands of the stadium. This was all documented by photos and videos attached to the complaint.”
Those episodes have framed Wednesday’s semi-final as more than a sporting event.
It is the first AFCON meeting between the sides since those dramatic nights, and it comes with the scars still visible on both camps.
The Senegalese see it as a chance to extend their recent dominance and finally bury the memory of Cairo 2006.
For Egypt, it is a shot at settling a score that has lingered since Mané’s penalty in Yaoundé.
The duel between Mané and Salah gives the fixture an added layer.
Formerly Liverpool team-mates, the two superstars have often been compared, occasionally uneasily.
“I’m a pretty private person, so I got along well with everyone on the team. I think Mo’ is also a really nice guy. But on the pitch, you saw it: sometimes he’d pass me the ball, sometimes he wouldn’t. Only Bobby’ always shared the ball,” Mané recently said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
Yet this rivalry stretches far beyond its modern icons.
The nations first crossed paths in 1986, when Senegal returned to the continental stage after a long absence and stunned hosts Egypt 1-0 in Cairo through a goal by Thierno Youm.
That victory, still remembered in Senegal as “Cairo 86”, set the tone for a relationship built on resilience and mutual defiance.
As the teams gather in Tangier, the echoes of past controversies, penalties and grievances will hang in the air.
One will advance to the final, the other will depart nursing familiar wounds.
What is certain is that Senegal and Egypt no longer meet as mere opponents; they collide as arch-rivals forged by history, heartbreak and revenge.
