Three months after being sacked as Senegal head coach, Pape Thiaw’s name is circulating persistently in North Africa. According to WinWin, MC Alger is considering bringing in the Senegalese coach to succeed Khaled Ben Yahia, whose future now looks highly uncertain.

Khaled Ben Yahia wants to leave MC Alger

Mouloudia d’Alger is going through a period of severe turbulence. Despite the club’s high ambitions, the Tunisian coach Khaled Ben Yahia is said to have lost patience with the pressure surrounding the team. According to WinWin, the coach has decided to step down. A meeting with the MCA management is scheduled for Sunday to discuss the terms of his departure.

Despite a fine comeback against Nigeria’s Enugu Rangers (from 0-2 to 3-0) in the second preliminary round first leg of the African Champions League, Mouloudia has seen criticism of its coach’s choices intensify.

Ben Yahia, who returned to the Algiers bench last March after the departure of Rulani Mokwena, knows the club inside out. But this new chapter could already be coming to an end.

Pape Thiaw, an unexpected option for Mouloudia

To succeed him, Pape Thiaw is reportedly among the main candidates being considered by the Algiers club’s directors, again according to WinWin.

The Senegalese has been a free agent since his dismissal last July, after the Lions were knocked out by Belgium (2-3 after extra time) in the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup. It was an abrupt exit for a man who had won AFCON 2025 and qualified his country for the World Cup.

The separation then became complicated on the financial front. In August, Thiaw served formal notice on the Senegalese Football Federation, claiming around 647,000 euros, notably for unpaid salaries and bonuses.

His name had also been mentioned, more discreetly, in Ghana as a possible successor to Carlos Queiroz, though no appointment materialised. A move to MC Alger would give him the chance to return to day-to-day club football and take on a new continental challenge. But no advanced negotiations or agreement with the Senegalese coach have been confirmed at this stage.

Everything will depend first on the outcome of talks between Khaled Ben Yahia and the Mouloudia management.

Afrik-Foot