Chucky Lozano's Napoli teammate who swapped France for Senegal and became Africa Cup of Nations champion

Hirving Lozano teammate Kalidou Koulibaly was crowned champion on Sunday along with Mané and Mendy. The Mexican national team player was surely happy for the Senegalese's achievement. Unfortunately for the Mexican player, he was injured against Panama during the last FIFA matchday.

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International soccer provided a new breakthrough, with Senegal winning its first African Cup of Nations by defeating Mohamed Salah's favored Egypt, and the man who lifted the trophy was none other than defender Kalidou Koulibaly. 

The Napoli defender served as captain of the Lions of Teranga in the tournament and did his best to lead a team that allowed only two goals during the competition. 

This allowed Koulibaly to celebrate his first title with Senegal after playing for France at youth level, the country where he was born on 20 June 1991. 

The Senegalese player faced the Mexican U20 team

The Saint-Dié-des-Vosges-born player even played in the U-20 World Cup with the French squad in Colombia in 2011, reaching the semifinals, where they lost to eventual runners-up Portugal. 

And in that competition they had to face the Mexican national team, one of the best participating teams in a U-20 Cup; that team coached by Juan Carlos 'Pájara' Chávez had among its ranks the Bronze Ball of the tournament, Jorge 'Chatón' Enríquez. 

Other players included Néstor Araujo, Diego Reyes, Alan Pulido, Erick Torres, and Ulises Dávila, who were a big part of a French team that had the aforementioned Koulibaly and future stars such as Antoine Griezmann, Alexander Lacazette, Francis Coquelin, and another young defender who came through Mexico, Timothée Kolodziejczak, who had a brief spell with Tigres. 

The central defender was losing opportunities in France

After this, his appearances with France were reduced and in 2015 he opted to defend the Senegal flag, the land of his predecessors, managing to dispute the Russia 2018 World Cup, same in which Les Bleus were crowned and the press did not hesitate to question him if he regretted his decision. 

"I have no regrets because I want to write the history of the future of Senegal soccer and I hope to be able to do so... When I saw the light in my parents' eyes when I told them I had chosen Senegal, I was really happy with my decision," he noted for the BBC in 2018. 

Today his gamble paid off as he can boast of being the first Senegalese player to lift a major trophy. 

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