Cheikhou Kouyaté: The Senegalese people are our motivation at 2022 FIFA World Cup

On 6 February 2022, something Cheikhou Kouyaté had waited a decade for finally happened. After 10 years representing his country at football, he had a winner's medal, as Senegal defeated Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on home soil.

The triumph on penalties was Senegal's first continental title – and blew away years of hurt Kouyaté had endured, having been eliminated from the Olympic Games London 2012, a FIFA World Cup in 2018, and three other AFCON tournaments with Senegal.

Speaking to Olympics.com as part of the new Olympic Channel original series "World at their Feet", which profiles 11 men's footballers and is now available to watch, the 32-year-old says of representing his country: "I've been in this wonderful team for 10 years, our national team which we love, which makes us want to die for it on the pitch."

That love for the team – and for the country – is what Senegal will count on at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

"We have the motivation: It is the Senegalese people," Kouyaté says. "When we won that AFCON (it was them). When we played at home in Dakar against Egypt (in a World Cup qualifying play-off) when the Senegalese people came at 6am, 5am and other people spent the night there for a 5pm match.

"And we're now in the World Cup, it's the Senegalese people who have pushed us. It's the Senegalese people who frightened the team we were playing against. That motivation we're going to take to the World Cup. We will try to give it our utmost."

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Cheikhou Kouyaté's Senegal disappointments

Kouyaté was born in Dakar, Senegal's capital, in December 1989, and moved to Belgium in 2006 to play football.

His first taste of international action came in 2012, playing for the senior team in a friendly in February before being called up to the under-23 team for London 2012.

That tournament was to be first of many disappointments, as Kouyaté shares, looking back in the knowledge he has since achieved a trophy with Senegal.

"Before the 2012 Olympics, we told ourselves we could get to the final," he remembers. "We didn't get there; we lost in the quarter-finals (to eventual champions Mexico). Every time we lost, we looked at ourselves – 'why do we lose'? After every time, we had a meeting. 

"We went to AFCON in [2015], we lost – we were eliminated in the first round. Then we went to [Gabon in 2017], we were confident. We said 'we've grown up now', we had the coach we needed and who knew us and loved the national team. In the quarter-final against Cameroon we know the story. We lost on penalties. 

"That really hurt us, because we thought it was possible to win something for that national team and we lost again. Then in 2019 we went to Egypt, got to the final and lost again. We thought, 'we'll never win anything'. Even I thought the same."

Senegal were also eliminated in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup.

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What keeps Cheikhou Kouyaté grounded – faith

Kouyaté explains his strong belief in God – the Senegalese is a devout Muslim – helped him overcome the repeated disappointments from his first five major tournaments with the national team.

"For me, it was my faith, because I always say the same thing to friends who know me," he shares. "[I'd say], 'If we don't win, we've tried, but it's destiny.' It wasn't time – wasn't the time for us to hold that cup in our hands. 

"In 2019, 2017, 2015… when you see all the players Senegal have had, it's not the same team that won the AFCON (in 2022). There are other players who were top players, better than us, who didn't win anything, because it wasn't their destiny."

Faith plays such a big role in his life, Kouyaté even extends it to advice he would give to others. While he is more than happy to provide guidance to young footballers, he believes strongly in destiny.

"A person's destiny doesn't lie in their hands. No one's. A person's destiny is with God, you never know what may happen tomorrow," he begins when asked what he would tell aspiring footballers. 

"But you must believe in yourself. You must tell yourself that you're strong, you can do it. But then you mustn't forget that you'll fall, several times. The hardest thing is to get up again, to look ahead, and say 'OK, I can do it'."

Senegal's World Cup motivation after AFCON win

Kouyaté shares happy memories of the victory parade back in Dakar following Senegal's AFCON win in February.

"There were celebrations, it was wonderful, it was magical. And we said to ourselves, 'no, this must not end'. The Senegalese country always deserves to win a trophy.

"When we came off the plane, we couldn't get out. It took us 45 minutes just to move. It was difficult; there was no way to get through. All the Senegalese people had come – they were proud. Proud of us, but we were proud of our supporters. Proud of them.

"The national team isn't just one person. It belongs to the Senegalese people, it's for all the Senegalese people around the world."

Kouyaté is part of Senegal's 26-man squad for the 2022 World Cup. That, unsurprisingly, is the next goal – becoming the first African country to lift the world's biggest trophy.

"Everything is possible, and inshallah we will be ready."