Words, photos, and video: Sam Wardrop, Callum Lloyd-James, and Dan Simpkins
During the 2025/26 season, Senegal was the 10th most represented nation across Europe's top five leagues. Yet, despite the country's success in producing players for the highest levels of European football, its own domestic league remains largely unknown to international audiences.
Travelling to Dakar, presenter and former professional footballer Sam Wardrop, film director Callum Lloyd-James and cinematographer Dan Simpkins set out to explore this disconnect and discover the footballing world that exists beyond the global spotlight. They visited Oslo Football Académie, who were competing in Senegal's Ligue 1 at the time, to get closer to the realities of the domestic game. Why does a country with such a strong presence in elite European football have a domestic league that remains so underrepresented in the wider football conversation? And what does the journey look like for the players still working their way through it?
Spending time with the team, the documentary offers an observational look at the realities of life as a footballer in Senegal. Through training sessions, conversations and the everyday moments surrounding the game, we get closer to the players and the environment they operate in, exploring a side of football that is rarely seen by audiences outside the country.
Rather than focusing solely on the players who have made it abroad, the film turns its attention to the football culture that exists before that transition. It looks at the people, communities and pathways behind the talent, offering a glimpse into a footballing system that continues to produce players for the global game while remaining largely under the radar itself.
At its heart, the documentary is about more than football. It is an opportunity to understand a different footballing culture on its own terms, moving beyond familiar narratives to explore the people and stories that make the game what it is in Senegal.
By stepping inside this often-overlooked world, the film aims to bring greater visibility to Senegalese domestic football and the players whose journeys begin far from the stadiums and audiences of Europe's biggest leagues.