The Senegal national U-20 football team (French: Équipe du Sénégal de football U-20), nicknamed Les Lions de la Teranga (young Lions of Teranga) is the feeder team for the Senegal national football team and is controlled by the Senegalese Football Federation. They are the current champions of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations and their senior team are the current champions of the AFCON and the CHAN.
The first time Senegal qualified for a World Cup was in 2015, where they managed to qualify for the semi-finals up until they lost against Brazil 5–0, their biggest defeat. They then went on to loss the third place match against fellow WAFU member Mali. Senegal ended up finishing in fourth place, their best performance in the tournament.
In 2007 & 2009 they got to the 1st Qualifying round, but got knocked out by Ghana (2007) & Nigeria (2009).
In 2011 they got to the 2nd round, but got knocked out by Egypt.
In the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup they reached the semi-finals of the finals tournament, losing 5–0 to Brazil and then losing 3–1 in the third-place match against Mali.
In the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Amadou Sagna made the fastest goal in U-20 championships, 9.6 seconds after the beginning of the match against Tahiti.
2023 U-20 World Cup
Being the current champion of Africa under-20, Senegal's favoritism to pass the stage was very big after an impressive display in the U-20 AFCON in Egypt, winning all games without conceding a goal as Senegal continued to conquer Africa. However, the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup became a total disaster for the Senegalese, as they started with a shock 0–1 defeat to Japan. Senegal also failed to hold the line properly against Israel in a humiliating 1–1 draw, where a Senegalese player even scored an own goal. Senegal improved against Colombia in the final match, and led 1–0 until the fifth minutes of added time in the second half when a late goal from the Colombian side ensured Senegal to finish bottom and suffer a group stage exit. This was the first-time ever in Senegalese football history, a national team of the country finished bottom of the table, a humiliating exit for the African champions. To make thing worse, Nigeria, Gambia and Tunisia, all three lost to Senegal in the earlier U-20 AFCON, successfully reached the knockout stage, ensuring Senegal's humiliation in the tournament.