From Magic System to Senegal: Pathé Mboup was already a star without anyone knowing

The 23-year-old Stade Brest winger has earned his first Senegal call-up under Patrick Vieira for upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan.

Pathé Mboup has been called up to the Senegal national team for the first time by manager Patrick Vieira for two upcoming Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifying matches against Sudan. The 23-year-old winger has impressed in his second season at Stade Brest in Ligue 1, making nine starts in nine matches.

Mboup's path to professional football was unconventional. After being trained at AS Dakar Sacré-Cœur in Senegal, he signed with Standard Liège in Belgium in 2022, then joined Olympique Lyonnais, where he failed to make a senior appearance. He subsequently played in Ligue 2 for Pau before joining Brest in summer 2025.

Beyond football, Mboup is recognizable to many as the young star of Magic System's 2012 music video "Magic in the Air," one of the biggest French pop hits. At age 11, he played the lead role of a boy wearing the yellow jersey of ACFC (Armor FC), a youth football academy in Diamniadio, Senegal, launched in partnership with Stade Brest. The video has accumulated over 564 million views on YouTube.