Senegal, first African team to beat England, but not first to score three goals

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson

Claim: Soccer World HQ, in a Facebook post, claimed that Senegal is the first African team to beat England and the first to score three goals against them.

Verdict: Partly True! Senegal is the first African team to beat England, but not the first to score three goals against them.

Full Text

The England senior men’s national football team, nicknamed the “Three Lions,” played their first match against Scotland in 1872. That match ended goalless but marked the beginning of an intense soccer rivalry between both nations, dubbed the “Auld Enemy.”

Since 1872-2025, the England national team has achieved its 1000-game milestone in November 2019 when they played Montenegro at the Wembley Stadium. England's all-time head-to-head record shows that they’ve played a whopping 1072 matches against 100 countries, won 615 games, drew 255, and lost 200.

Senegal, on the other hand, is one of Africa’s most famous football nations, nicknamed the “Lions of Teranga.” In 2002, they became the second African team after Cameroon to reach the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup after beating the defending champions France and Sweden before being eventually knocked out by Turkey.

However, England and Senegal have faced off against each other twice in soccer history. They first clashed in December 2022 at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, during a  FIFA World Cup round of 16 match, which England won 3-0. They recently met on a June 10, 2025, international football friendly match held at the city stadium, where Senegal sought revenge with their famous 3-1 victory over England.

After the match, Soccer World News HQ claimed in this Facebook post that Senegal is the first African team to beat England and score three goals against them. According to Sky Sports, 26,322 spectators attended the match.

The claim archived here quickly gained 291 likes, two comments, and was shared thrice, including by this Facebook user. 

Another sports Facebook page, TNT Sports Football, with over 9.7 million followers, also made a similar claim in this viral post, gaining over 38,200 reactions, 1,200 comments, and 285 shares as of June 20, 2025. Some comments contest the claim that Senegal is not the first African team to beat England. 

DUBAWA, in its quest to combat the spread of misleading information and fake news, decided to fact-check the claims in the viral posts.

 

Verification

To confirm the claims, our researcher first conducted an Open Source Intelligence search using keywords on Google.com to verify the first claim that Senegal is the first African team to beat England. The search found the claim to be TRUE.

It was discovered that England has played nine national African football teams, namely Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia, across all competitions. The Three Lions of England secured 21 wins, six draws, and only a defeat against Senegal. 

This confirmed the claim that Senegal is the first African team to beat England. Credible news outlets such as the BBC, Reuters, talkSports, and The Guardian reported on it.

Similar searches were conducted to verify the second claim that Senegal is the “first team to score three goals” against England’s team. We found this to be FALSE. Apart from Senegal, several other teams, including Belgium, Hungary, Scotland, and Wales, have all previously defeated the Three Lions of England and scored three or more goals against them.

Conclusion 

While the first claim that Senegal is the first African team to beat England is TRUE, the second claim that they are the first to score three goals against them is FALSE. Therefore, DUBAWA found the Facebook post by Soccer World HQ on the England versus Senegal famous friendly match to be PARTLY TRUE.