Chad national team: Football, Funding, and the Real Challenges Behind the Game

When you think of the Chad national team, the official representative football squad of Chad, competing in international tournaments despite extreme resource constraints. Also known as Les Sao, it doesn’t just play football—it fights for survival. While teams in Europe or South America train in world-class facilities, the Chad national team often trains on dusty fields with broken goals, unpaid players, and no consistent schedule. This isn’t a story of talent lack—it’s a story of systems failing.

The LINAFOOT, Chad’s top-tier domestic football league, which serves as the primary talent pipeline for the national team hasn’t finished a season since 2017. That year, the league was abandoned mid-season because clubs couldn’t pay players or cover travel costs. Without a functioning domestic league, the national team has no steady stream of match-ready players. The Chadian football, the entire ecosystem of organized football in Chad, from grassroots to professional depends on sporadic government funding and rare sponsorships. When money runs out, so does the game. Players go months without pay. Coaches quit. Kids who dream of wearing the national jersey have no youth academies to join.

It’s not just about the pitch. The football funding, the financial support systems—public, private, or international—that keep teams operating in Chad are broken. FIFA and CAF offer some aid, but it’s often delayed or mismanaged. Meanwhile, neighboring countries like Senegal and Nigeria build stadiums, hire coaches, and run academies. Chad’s team plays on in silence. Fans still show up. Kids still kick balls in the streets. But the structure that should lift them up? It’s barely there.

What you’ll find in this collection isn’t just match reports or player stats. It’s the truth behind the headlines: why a national team collapses, how financial neglect kills sports, and what happens when a country’s passion outpaces its resources. These posts don’t just cover football—they expose the systems that hold it back.