That they have emerged as the new force in Africa is a credit to a fine, French-based group of players, and an astute new manager.
It is also a source of enormous joy to a football-mad nation.
In fact, Senegal are used to causing shocks and surprises.
They beat Egypt, the hosts, in the opening game of the 1986 African Cup of Nations and, four years later, in Algeria, they reached the semi-finals for the first time - their best result until this year.
While that team looked strong, any hopes of qualifying for the World Cup in Italy were dashed when the chairman of the Senegalese FA forgot to register them for the competition.
So, until this season, Senegal had only really made waves at regional level, where they have won West Africa's Amilcar Cabral Cup a record seven times.