Vieira builds Senegal backroom team with three former internationals as Diouf remains outside set-up

Patrick Vieira will be supported by a 10-man backroom team after the Senegalese Football Federation confirmed the structure surrounding the new manager, with three former Lions included but El-Hadji Diouf absent from the official staff.

The line-up includes two assistants, two team managers, a performance director, a goalkeeping coach, three video analysts and a media officer. It combines people who have worked with Vieira with figures familiar with Senegal’s national team environment.

Lamine Diatta, part of Senegal’s 2002 generation, will continue as a team manager. The former Lyon and Newcastle defender will work alongside Abdou Kader Mangane, another former Senegal international who played in defence.

Khadim Faye, who represented Senegal as a goalkeeper during the 1990s and 2000s, takes responsibility for preparing the team’s goalkeepers. Faye has also worked with Senegal’s youth teams and Generation Foot, and replaces Tony Sylva.

The trio gives Vieira three members of staff with direct knowledge of the national side and its workings.

Mickael Marsiglia has been appointed Vieira’s first assistant. The pair know each other from their time together at Cannes, where they trained at the same stage of their careers.

Issa Aidara, who has worked with Diambars and Senegal’s Under-17 side, becomes the second assistant. Emmanuel Vallance will oversee performance, while Magatte Gueye, Fares Mouri and Hachem Ali Mbae form the three-person video analysis unit.

Journalist Babacar Ndaw Faye completes the structure as media officer.

Diouf’s changing role

The notable omission is El-Hadji Diouf, who previously served as special adviser to Augustin Senghor on the national teams.

Since Abdoulaye Fall became president of the Federation, Diouf’s position has changed. The Senegalese Football Federation now describes him as an ambassador, rather than giving him an operational role within Vieira’s staff or a mandate to speak on behalf of the organisation.

That arrangement reflects an issue raised before Vieira’s appointment was finalised. The manager wanted the Lions’ immediate environment to be limited to staff members and people with formally defined responsibilities, a position that could alter the involvement of several former Senegal greats around the team.

Diouf continues to attend Senegal matches and maintains that he remains close to the squad.

“Je suis chez moi. Je suis Senegalais, un fils du pays,” he said. “I am at home. I am Senegalese, a son of the country.”

Vieira had previously indicated that he was open to working with Diouf and other former internationals, pointing to their knowledge of Senegalese and African football. He also stressed that everyone involved would need a clearly defined role.

For now, the 2002 World Cup hero remains close to the national team without being part of its official staff. Vieira, meanwhile, has established a clearly organised structure and assigned specific duties to several former Lions.