50 Facts About Mo Salah

1.

Mo Salah started his senior career in 2010 playing for Al Mokawloon, departing in 2012 to join Basel, where he won two Swiss Super League titles.

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2.

In 2017, Mo Salah signed for Liverpool for a then-club record transfer of £36.

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3.

Mo Salah went on to be an integral player in the club's Champions League and Premier League title successes the following two seasons, and has since won the FA Cup and the League Cup.

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4.

Mo Salah has achieved numerous individual accolades, including two PFA Players' Player of the Year awards, three Premier League Golden Boots, the Premier League Player of the Season, the Premier League Playmaker of the Season, and finished third for the Best FIFA Men's Player in 2018 and 2021.

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5.

At international level, Mo Salah represented Egypt at youth level before making his senior debut in 2011.

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6.

Mo Salah was named CAF African Footballer of the Year, BBC African Footballer of the Year, and was selected in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament, 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament and the CAF Team of the Year on several occasions.

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7.

Mo Salah frequently had to miss school to make the 3 hour journey to training.

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8.

When Mo Salah was 15 he was noticed by then first team manager Mohamed Radwan, who moved him to the senior squad immediately.

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9.

Mo Salah had to be given a special diet and training program due to his muscles not being fully formed because of his young age.

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10.

On 10 April 2012, it was announced that Mo Salah had signed for Basel on a four-year contract starting from 15 June 2012.

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11.

Mo Salah initially found it difficult to settle, having arrived unable to speak the language and been signed as a replacement for fan-favourite Xherdan Shaqiri .

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12.

Mo Salah scored in his first league appearance of the season against Aarau on 13 July 2013.

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13.

Mo Salah scored his first Champions League goal a month later against Maccabi Tel Aviv on 6 August 2013 in the third qualifying round.

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14.

Mo Salah was the subject of major controversy following the game, after he appeared to deliberately avoid shaking hands with the players of the Israeli club in both the home and away legs.

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15.

Mo Salah scored twice against the Bulgarian league champions PFC Ludogorets Razgrad on 21 August 2013 in the play-off round.

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16.

Mo Salah was spared of military service after a meeting with the then Egyptian prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, the Minister of Higher Education and the Egyptian national manager Shawky Gharieb.

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17.

Mo Salah changed squad numbers from 15 to 17 for the start of the season, with his new number having been vacated by Eden Hazard changing to number 10.

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18.

Mo Salah was rarely used during the season, making just three Premier League, two UEFA Champions League and three cup appearances, failing to score in any of them.

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19.

Mo Salah chose the number 74 shirt in honor of the victims of the Port Said Stadium riot.

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20.

Mo Salah would go onto score another three goals that season, scoring against Bologna, Genoa, and AC Milan, the latter on the final day.

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21.

Mo Salah signed a long-term contract with the Reds for an initial £36.

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22.

Mo Salah was assigned the number 11 shirt previously worn by Roberto Firmino who instead switched to number 9.

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23.

On 22 April 2018, Mo Salah was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, having earlier been named in the PFA Team of the Year for the Premier League.

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24.

Mo Salah's double took him to 43 goals for the season across all competitions, surpassing Roger Hunt's tally of 42, and making him Liverpool's second-highest goalscorer in a single season, behind Ian Rush.

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25.

On 30 August 2018, Mo Salah was named on the three-man shortlist for the UEFA Men's Player of the Year, coming in third place, and was included on the three-man shortlist for the UEFA Forward of the Season, coming in second place.

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26.

Mo Salah controversially received the 2018 FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year, the winning strike his goal at Anfield in his first Merseyside derby, prompting online protests against the decision.

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27.

In September 2019, Mo Salah was nominated for the FIFA FIFPro World11 award by worldwide players' union, FIFPro, and FIFA as one amongst 55 players.

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28.

Later that month, Liverpool won the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, with Mo Salah receiving the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament.

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29.

In scoring his 100th goal in his 159th game, Mo Salah became the first player since Steven Gerrard in 2008 to reach the milestone, and the third fastest in Liverpool's history after Roger Hunt, and Jack Parkinson .

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30.

Mo Salah is the fastest to reach 100 goals for Liverpool while scoring purely in England's top flight, given that both Hunt and Parkinson scored some of their goals for Liverpool in the Football League Second Division.

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31.

In scoring Mo Salah became the first player to score in the opening game of five consecutive Premier League seasons.

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32.

In scoring three goals Mo Salah became the highest scoring African player in Premier League history, and the first Liverpool player to score in ten consecutive games as well as the first Liverpool player to score at Old Trafford three games in a row.

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33.

Mo Salah became the first opposition player to score a hat-trick at Old Trafford since Ronaldo in 2003, and the first to do so in Premier League history.

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34.

On 29 April 2022, Mo Salah was named England's Men's Footballer of the Year for the second time since 2018.

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35.

Mo Salah won the Playmaker of the Season award after collecting 13 assists.

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36.

On 1 July 2022, Mo Salah signed a new contract with Liverpool for another 3 years at the club becoming Liverpool's highest paid player with £350k a week lasting until at least 2025.

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37.

Mo Salah was selected for the youth squad to play at the 2012 Summer Olympics scoring in all three of the team's group games.

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38.

Mo Salah was a member of the Pharaohs' squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations held in Gabon.

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39.

Mo Salah was named as the captain of the Egypt national team in September 2019.

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40.

Mo Salah is regarded by several pundits and footballing figures as one of the best players in the world and one of the best African players of all time.

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41.

Mo Salah is Muslim and celebrates goals by performing the sujud.

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42.

Mo Salah has a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier Adidas: he wears Adidas X18 football boots.

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43.

Mo Salah appeared in an Adidas 2018 World Cup commercial along with other players in the Adidas stable, including David Beckham, Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba, and singer Pharrell Williams.

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44.

In February 2018, following a match against Tottenham, Mo Salah donated a replica shirt to young supporter Mohamed Abdel Karim, who was previously pictured wearing a jumper reading Mo Salah's name and shirt number.

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45.

Mo Salah subsequently expressed his condolences on Twitter, and made a donation of three million Egyptian pounds to help rebuild the church.

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46.

Mo Salah is devout to a degree that many other well-known Muslims sports figures are not, and his charm and apolitical persona have made him a popular figure in the UK.

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47.

Mo Salah is nicknamed "The Pharaoh" by the press and his fans.

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48.

Mo Salah has been given the nickname "Egyptian King" by Liverpool supporters, arising from a chant set to the tune of "Sit Down" by English indie rock band James.

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49.

Testament to his influence in the region and globally, Salah was featured on the cover of two major magazines in 2018: GQ Middle East and Time magazine's 2019 TIME 100 edition.

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50.

In January 2020, Mo Salah was honoured with a wax statue at Madame Tussauds in London.

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