Sadio Mane secretly married his bride Aissata Tamba right before starting his journey to defend the African Cup of Nations (CAN) title with the Senegal team.
Former Liverpool striker and Senegal captain Sadio Mane is believed to have met Aissata Tamba through his long-standing relationship with her father Madou Tamba.
Madou Tamba is a construction company owner who has overseen many of Sadio Mane’s charity building projects in the football star’s hometown.
Sadio Mane has given back to his impoverished hometown of Bambali on numerous occasions over the years, spending millions of pounds to help build a new high school, a health centre, a fuel station, a post office and most recently a mini football pitch.
He also paid for laptops for the local school, 4G internet for the entire community, and a monthly payment of 70 euros to each family in his old neighborhood, equivalent to the current minimum wage in Senegal.
Sadio Mane and Aissata Tamba kept their relationship under wraps until pictures emerged of their secret wedding – believed to have taken place over the weekend and attended by friends and family.
Sadio Mane and his father Madou Tamba have a long-standing working relationship of trust and this played a key role in the player getting to know his partner’s daughter.
Senegalese media claim that Aissata “seemed destined for Mane since she was in school”. Mane paid for Aissata’s education before a romance blossomed between the two, who are 13 years apart in age.
According to the British newspaper MailOnline , the villagers of Bambali all blessed the couple and thought Sadio was a good man who deserved happiness.
Even Senegalese President Macky Sall mentioned Sadio Mane’s wedding when he hosted a meeting with the national team ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) in Ivory Coast this weekend. “I warmly congratulate Sadio Mane and we all applaud him for a happy marriage. May God bless your family and your children.”
After a short time playing for Bayern Munich, Sadio Mane now plays for Al-Nassr and is Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammate in the Saudi Pro-League with a salary of around £34 million a year.
His wedding was held in Keur Massar, a suburb of the capital Dakar, just six days before the start of CAN 2024.
Mane played a key role in Senegal’s title defence, which began with group stage clashes against Cameroon, Guinea and Gambia.
Aissata Tamba, 18, looks glamorous in a variety of stunning wedding outfits in a series of photos posted on Instagram by photography company @Magvision_Evens_Officiel.
She happily posed with Mane and showed off her henna-painted hands in a tight-fitting mermaid-style dress with silver patterned borders, paired with a chunky gold necklace and earrings.
Aissata is a devout Muslim like Mane and has never left Senegal’s borders. So after the wedding, people wonder whether Aisatta will stay in Senegal or accompany Mane to Saudi Arabia, where he plays.
Mane began his professional career with French club Metz before signing for Red Bull Salzburg in 2012.
He moved to Southampton for a club record fee of £11.8 million in 2014 and then to Liverpool for £34 million in 2016, becoming the most expensive African player in history at the time.
He joined Bayern Munich in June 2022 for a fee of £27.4m, before moving to Al-Nassr in August 2023. Mane is currently an ambassador for Right To Play, an international non-profit organisation with a mission to empower vulnerable children.
