Pape Gueye: Senegal Football Midfielder, Villarreal Career and Net Worth

Pape Gueye is a defensive midfielder for Senegal, born on 24 January 1999 in Montreuil, France, who joined Villarreal on a free transfer on 5 July 2024. He scored the 94th minute winner against Morocco in the 2025 AFCON final on 18 January 2026, a result CAF later changed. For South African readers who know him from the soccer highlights of that final, he is also the 2025-26 winner of LaLiga's African MVP award, presented in Lagos.

Think of him as the quiet tenant who keeps the whole compound running, the one who has the generator fuelled before anyone notices the light has gone. That is the job of a holding midfielder, and Gueye has done it in France, in Spain and for the Teranga Lions. What follows covers his clubs and reported fees, his role on the pitch, his Senegal record, the story of the AFCON final and its appeal, a clear answer on net worth, and how to follow his matches from Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra and Kampala.

Who Is Pape Gueye?

Pape Gueye is a Senegal international holding midfielder who came through French football and first played in Spain in 2023. He began his professional career at Le Havre, joined Marseille in 2020, spent the second half of the 2022-23 season on loan at Sevilla and signed for Villarreal in 2024 on a contract running to 2028. He was appointed a Grand Officer of Senegal's National Order of the Lion in 2022, after the Teranga Lions won the 2021 AFCON.

Gueye is a common surname in Senegalese football, so the quickest way to be sure you have the right player is to check two details. Pape was born in 1999, and he is the Gueye who joined Villarreal in 2024.

The Road From Le Havre: Every Club and Every Reported Fee

Gueye's road began in the Paris region and led to Le Havre's academy. He made his professional debut for Le Havre on 5 May 2017, in a 0-0 Ligue 2 draw with Chamois Niortais, and spent the next three seasons growing into the first team. Ligue 2 is a demanding school for a young midfielder, perhaps the French version of learning to drive on the Third Mainland Bridge at rush hour, and it shows in how calmly he plays under pressure.

He joined Marseille in the summer of 2020 on a four year deal. Outlets differ on the 2020 fee: Wikipedia reports about EUR 3 million, while some other outlets list the move as free, so it is best read as a reported figure rather than an official club disclosure. At Marseille he played in a city where the Vélodrome crowd expects a midfielder to win every second ball, and rewards him loudly when he does. His appearances and goals there sit in the records module.

Marseille loaned him to Sevilla in January 2023 for the rest of the 2022-23 season, his first taste of LaLiga, which showed Spanish clubs that his game travelled well. The records module carries his Sevilla numbers.

Gueye joined Villarreal on a free transfer on 5 July 2024, signing a four year contract that runs to 2028. A free transfer means no fee changed hands, which made him one of the more efficient signings of that summer in LaLiga. His appearances and goals for the Yellow Submarine sit in the records module above, which updates after every match, while the table below covers his closed spells.

Why Did Gueye Choose Senegal Over France?

Gueye chose Senegal because of his Senegalese heritage, having been born and raised in France. He made his senior debut for Senegal on 14 November 2021, in a 2-0 win over Congo in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. Nigerian readers will recognise the shape of that story, since the Super Eagles have long welcomed players raised in Europe who chose the country of their family.

The timing was generous to him. Within months of that debut he was part of the squad that won the 2021 AFCON, and the national honour followed in 2022. The choice repaid both sides quickly: Senegal found a holding midfielder with years ahead of him, and Gueye found a medal, a role and a place in his country's story.

What Does Pape Gueye Do on the Pitch?

Gueye is a holding midfielder whose first job is to protect his centre backs, winning the ball and passing it simply to the players ahead of him. His long stride lets him cover ground between the two penalty areas when his side pushes its full backs high, and he is a presence at set pieces. He reads danger early, so much of his best work happens before the pass that would have hurt his team is even played.

He also arrives in the box, which is perhaps the most underrated part of his game. His goals tend to come late in a move, a midfielder running in unmarked after the forwards have dragged defenders away, and the 94th minute winner in the 2025 AFCON final came in exactly that way. For a player whose main brief is defending, that is a useful second string.

The defining club honour came in May 2026, when he was named LaLiga's best African player for 2025-26 with 38% of the vote, ahead of Iñaki Williams on 24% and Nicolas Pépé on 22%. The prize was presented in Lagos, which gave Nigerian fans a direct reason to follow Gueye's season closely.

A forward is judged on goals and a holding midfielder on the matches his team does not lose, and Gueye winning suggests the voters were watching the whole pitch rather than only the highlights. For African forwards in LaLiga, the route to the next vote is clear enough: the goals and assists that decide matches, which the records module tracks after every round.

Gueye and the Teranga Lions: Debut, AFCON Medals and the Caps Module

Gueye made his Senegal debut on 14 November 2021 and won the 2021 AFCON with the Teranga Lions in his first season as an international. For the up to date number of appearances and goals for Senegal, open the live caps module above, which refreshes once each international window ends. A cap counts full internationals only, the same way it does for a Harambee Stars or Bafana Bafana player, so friendlies against national teams count while youth and unofficial matches do not.

The defining match of his career is the 2025 AFCON final in Rabat on 18 January 2026. Gueye scored the only goal in the 94th minute as Senegal beat Morocco 1-0, and the tournament's best XI included him. In any Lagos viewing centre, a goal that late is the one people replay on their phones for days, and this one was replayed from Dakar to Durban.

What happened next changed the record book. During the final, after a late penalty was awarded against them, Senegal's players left the pitch for 14 minutes. On 17 March 2026 CAF's Appeals Board ruled that the walk off amounted to forfeiting the final and awarded Morocco a 3-0 win, which made Morocco the champions on CAF's record of the tournament.

Senegal took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which registered their appeal on 25 March 2026. Gueye's goal is a fact of the match on 18 January 2026, and the honours module updates the title record.

Pape Gueye net worth

No reliable net worth figure is available for Pape Gueye. Reported salary estimates are EUR 3.13 million a year gross at Villarreal for the season beginning in 2025, GBP 28,000 a week or about GBP 1.46 million a year, and about EUR 1.88 million a year. These are published estimates, not accounts, and none establishes what Gueye owns after debts. None of these figures can be attributed to a named informational outlet.

For a rough illustration of scale, using assumed conversion rates of EUR 1 to NGN 1,700, KES 150, UGX 4,000, ZAR 20 and GHS 12, EUR 3.13 million is about NGN 5.32 billion, KES 470 million, UGX 12.52 billion, ZAR 62.6 million and GHS 37.6 million a year. EUR 1.88 million is about NGN 3.20 billion, KES 282 million, UGX 7.52 billion, ZAR 37.6 million and GHS 22.6 million. Using assumed rates of GBP 1 to NGN 2,000, KES 175, UGX 4,700, ZAR 24 and GHS 14, GBP 1.46 million is about NGN 2.92 billion, KES 256 million, UGX 6.86 billion, ZAR 35 million and GHS 20.4 million. These rounded illustrations are not dated exchange rate quotations or take home pay.

No separate image rights amount, market value figure or endorsement income can be attributed to a named informational outlet, so there is no supported amount to attribute or convert for those categories. An undisclosed amount does not mean zero income. Market value estimates what a club might pay for a player; it is not money held by the player.

Transfer fees are paid between clubs and do not measure personal wealth. Salary measures earnings over a period, while net worth means assets less debts. Career wage totals cannot establish net worth either, and the available figures do not support a reliable personal wealth calculation.

How to Watch Pape Gueye From Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda

The fixtures module above lists his club and Senegal matches, with every start time shown for Lagos (WAT), Nairobi and Kampala (EAT), Johannesburg (SAST) and Accra (GMT) side by side, so you never have to do the sums yourself. Spain runs one hour ahead of GMT in winter, so a 21:00 kick-off in Villarreal reaches Ghana at 20:00 GMT, Nigeria at 21:00 WAT, South Africa at 22:00 SAST, and Kenya and Uganda at 23:00 EAT.

Between late March and late October, Spain moves two hours ahead of GMT, and the same 21:00 kick-off becomes 19:00 GMT, 20:00 WAT, 21:00 SAST and 22:00 EAT. That shift is the one that catches East African viewers out, since an evening match in winter can run close to midnight. Senegal's international matches follow the host country's clock, so fans in Ghana and Uganda following Senegal's AFCON qualifiers and finals should check the module for each window rather than assume a regular slot.

LaLiga and AFCON matches across the five countries are watched mostly on pay television and streaming services, and the where to watch module for your country lists the options as data. If you want to follow more of the continent's players in Europe, the African footballers hub groups them by club and country. Set your country in the module first, then save Gueye's fixtures so the right local time shows every time.