{"id":45408,"date":"2026-09-14T13:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45408"},"modified":"2026-09-14T13:05:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:05:23","slug":"senegal-goalkeeper-retires-from-international-football","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/senegal-goalkeeper-retires-from-international-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Senegal goalkeeper retires from international football \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Goalkeeper \u00c9douard Mendy has announced his retirement from international football following an eight-year career with the Senegal national team.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old Al Ahli goalkeeper confirmed his decision on Saturday in a video posted on his Instagram account, which featured key highlights from his journey with the Teranga Lions. Mendy made his Senegal debut in 2018 under former head coach Aliou Ciss\u00e9 and went on to earn 59 caps, maintaining a record of 31 clean sheets while conceding 34 goals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His international career was highlighted by Senegal&#8217;s historic victory at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, where the team defeated Egypt on penalties to lift their first continental trophy, alongside his appearances at two FIFA World Cups in 2022 and 2026.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Representing my country and wearing the Teranga Lions shirt has been the greatest pride of my career,&#8221; Mendy shared in his announcement. &#8220;From winning our first continental title to competing on the world stage, I leave with a heart full of gratitude for my teammates, the technical staff, and all the fans of Senegal who supported us every step of the way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45409,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-45408","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"AFCON winner \u00c9douard Mendy ends eight-year international career with Senegal","published_date":"2026-09-14 11:54:27","news_description":"AFCON winner \u00c9douard Mendy ends eight-year international career with Senegal","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45410,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45408\/revisions\/45410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}