World Cup (Q): South Sudan coach Dupuis suspended

South Sudan senior national football team coach Nicolas Dupuis has been suspended over the team’s poor performance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The Frenchman is now set to miss Group B academic match against Togo on Monday.

The suspension of the coach comes hot on the heels of the team’s 5-0 loss to Senegal on Friday in Juba and the subsequent remarks he made. Pan-Africa Football has seen a statement confirming the trainer’s suspension.

How Dupuis courted trouble after loss to Senegal

“The head coach is, hereby, suspended from his duties for a period of 15 days for breaching his contractual obligations and violating article 3 of the coach professional contract,” the statement reads.

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄

𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: 𝟏𝟏𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐒𝐒𝐅𝐅 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 (𝟑/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓) — 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇’𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 pic.twitter.com/gamqlsWToR

— South Sudan Football Association (@ssfa_com) October 11, 2025

“The South Sudan Football Federation (SSFF) wishes to extend its sincere apologies to our loyal fans, partners and the wider football community for the recent series of unsatisfactory results and the public statements made following our FIFA World Cup qualification match against Senegal. We remain deeply grateful to your trust and support as we take measures to uphold professionalism, discipline and accountability within our national football teams.”

South Sudan are out of the race for World Cup

The Bright Stars’ coach courted trouble when he partly attributed the loss to the fact that he had not been paid. Earlier, in a pre-match press conference, Dupuis had expressed confidence in his team’s readiness for the match against Senegal.

“Our players have trained hard and are fully committed to giving their best performance tomorrow,” Dupuis stated. “We know Senegal is a formidable opponent, but we believe in our ability to rise to the occasion. Nothing is impossible in football.”

South Sudan are out of the race for the World Cup finals and anchor the group with four points from nine games. The Teranga Lions lead the table with 21 points, four ahead of second-placed Democratic Republic of the Congo.