All-time goalscorer Nguenar Ndiaye looking to inspire Senegal to glory at WAFCON

She spent years watching opposing strikers from her own goal before becoming, in turn, their worst nightmare. Nguenar Ndiaye, born January 10th, 1995, in Mbour, embodies one of the most unique journeys in Senegalese football. And as Senegal fights for a place in the WAFCON quarter-finals against Morocco, the Lionesses’ striker is more than ever at the heart of Mame Moussa Cisse’s project.

A conversion from the goalposts

Yet it all started in goal. Spotted at a young age by Jean-Pierre Correa, known as 'Tchampou', coach of the Dorades de Mbour, Nguenar Ndiaye joined the club as a child: in fact, it was the club that took care of retrieving her civil documents at the time. She started out as a goalkeeper, but only found her true position at 16, when she began her transition to attack.

This path then led her to AFA Grand-Yoff in Dakar, and later to AS Dakar Sacre-Coeur in 2020, where she played in the Division One play-offs. The following year, she represented the club in the CAF Women’s Champions League zone A qualifiers, finishing as joint top scorer. A decisive transfer awaited her: in 2021, she headed to France and Bourges Foot 18.

In Bourges, the Senegalese striker found the perfect environment to blossom. The club, whose majority shareholder is none other than Sadio Mane, became the stage for her steady progress, surrounded by a group of compatriots like Meta Kande and Safietou Sagna, who were also called up to the national team.

Under the guidance of coach Sandrine Jacquet, Ndiaye worked on her left foot - she is naturally right-footed - and gradually ironed out her technical flaws.

"She listens and puts in the effort, even if she doesn’t always enjoy it," her coach told Footeuses, praising her humility and kindness off the pitch. Back in May 2023, she had already led her team to a regional title, the Coupe Centre-Val de Loire, with a hat-trick in a collective masterclass.

The stats speak for themselves. Over the last three seasons in the French women’s third division, Ndiaye has scored 59 goals in 60 matches, including 13 goals in just 19 games during the 2025-2026 campaign, which helped the Bruyeres secure promotion to the second division.

This goal spree did not go unnoticed by Mane, who closely follows the women’s team and has personally called the players several times to congratulate them after their results - even doubling their bonus after a hard-fought draw.

The Lionesses’ attacking reference

Ndiaye has brought this same efficiency to the national team. She made a decisive impact as early as the qualifiers for AFCON 2022, where she was named player of the match against Tunisia, and even then, she was already showing huge ambition. "I’ll never get enough of scoring goals," she told Wiwsport, dreaming of becoming a future continental star.

She delivered on that promise in the 2024 edition. Ndiaye scored a brace against D.R. Congo and another against Zambia, finishing as joint top scorer of the tournament with four goals, tied with Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebbak. That brought her tally to five goals in WAFCON finals, a record for Senegal - men and women - before the start of the 2026 Moroccan edition.

WAFCON 2026: a date with history

For this third consecutive WAFCON appearance by the Lionesses, coach Mame Moussa Cisse has made the ambition clear: to do better than the last two quarter-finals and reach, for the first time, the semi-finals, which would mean direct qualification for the Women’s World Cup. Once again, that goal depends on Ndiaye finding the net.

The start of the tournament was tough. Beaten in their opening match by Algeria (0-2), the Senegalese bounced back against Kenya, winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Seynabou Mbengue, with Ndiaye a constant threat in front of goal throughout the second half. This win put the Lionesses back in the race for qualification, but their fate is no longer entirely in their hands: topping Group A with six points and a solid defence, Morocco under Jorge Vilda go into the final matchday in a strong position.

Senegal, third with three points, must get a result against the Lionesses of the Atlas this Monday night at the Rabat Olympic Stadium, and hope for a slip-up from Algeria against Kenya, to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

At 31, the woman who once dreamed of being compared to the greatest names in football has nothing left to prove as the top scorer in Lionesses’ AFCON history. Now, she just needs to turn this individual success into a collective achievement, to finally deliver Senegal the continental semi-final that has so far eluded them.