Senegal's team doctor lacked the specialist background needed to support the squad during the World Cup in North America, the president of the country's football federation said on Monday, as the governing body took stock of a disappointing campaign.
The team doctor was “trained as a gynaecologist” and the issue was discovered late and had raised concern among players about the level of medical support available, federation chief Abdoulaye Fall told a press conference.
"Based on the feedback I received, the players were not sufficiently reassured about being supported by him,” Fall said. The federation sought additional medical expertise to reassure the squad, he added.
"We had to find convincing expertise so they could feel reassured, because health comes before everything," said Fall.
The Senegalese Association of Sports Medicine rejected the allegations as "unfounded and defamatory" in a statement issued late on Monday.
It said the team doctor, Abderahmane Fediore, holds a specialist diploma in sports medicine and sports biology from Cheikh Anta Diop University's faculty of medicine.
He previously led the physiotherapy department at Fann Hospital and has worked as Senegal's team doctor since 2017 including at three World Cups and five Africa Cup of Nations.
Senegal fired coach Pape Bouna Thiaw on Saturday, saying their results at the World Cup necessitated a change.
Senegal had hoped to be contenders at the World Cup, after beating Morocco in January’s Africa Cup of Nations final, but had a disappointing tournament.
They lost their opening two group games to France and Norway and let slip a 2-0 lead with five minutes remaining against Belgium in the last 32 before going down 3-2 in extra time.
