Mohamed Salah

He made his official Basel debut in a UEFA Champions League preliminary stage match against the Norwegian club Molde on 8 August, coming on as a substitute in the 74th minute.

He made his league debut on 12 August against Thun, playing the full match.

Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly (محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), known as Mohamed Salah or Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a right winger or forward for Premier League club Liverpool and captains the Egypt national team.

Regarded as one of the best players of his generation and among the greatest African players of all time, he is known for his clinical finishing, dribbling and speed.

In 2006, he joined the youth team of Al Mokawloon Al Arab aged 14 after being spotted by a scout who had originally come to watch another child play but was distracted by Salah.

Salah frequently had to miss school to make the three-hour journey to training.

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

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

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

Salah made his first-team debut on 3 May 2010 in the Egyptian Premier League, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 away draw against El Mansoura.

During the 2010–11 season Salah continued earning minutes on the pitch, eventually becoming a regular in the team.

Even though he was getting regular game time, Salah struggled to score.

In the dressing room after matches he would sometimes be in tears because of this, and Radwan says it only motivated him to become better.

He scored his first goal for them on 25 December 2010 in a 1–1 away draw against Al Ahly.

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

He remained a regular for Al Mokawloon, appearing in every game of the 2011–12 season.

Following his performances at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was named CAF Most Promising African Talent of the Year.

Following the Port Said Stadium riot on 1 February 2012, the Egyptian Premier League was suspended, and on 10 March, the Egyptian Football Association announced their decision to cancel the remainder of the season.

Swiss Super League club Basel had been monitoring Salah for some time, so following the Egyptian Premier League suspension, the club organised a friendly match with the Egypt national under-23 team.

The match took place on 16 March at the Stadion Rankhof in Basel, and despite only playing the second half, Salah scored twice, helping the Egyptians to a 4–3 win.

Basel subsequently invited Salah to remain in the city for a week's training.

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

He initially found it difficult to settle, having arrived unable to speak the language and been signed as a replacement for Xherdan Shaqiri.

Salah scored on his unofficial debut on 23 June 2012 against FCSB during a friendly match, a 4–2 defeat.

In 2014, Salah joined Chelsea for a reported fee of £11 million, but limited gametime led to successive loans to Fiorentina and Roma, who later signed him permanently for €15 million.

In the 2016–17 season, Salah was a key figure in Roma's unsuccessful title bid, reaching double figures in both goals and assists.

In 2017, Salah signed for Liverpool for a then-club record transfer of £36.9 million.

Since then, he finished as runner-up in the 2017 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, and was top scorer during CAF qualification as Egypt qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Salah was named CAF African Footballer of the Year (2017 and 2018), BBC African Footballer of the Year (2017 and 2018), 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.

In his first season, he set the record for most Premier League goals scored (32) in a 38-game season and helped Liverpool to the 2018 UEFA Champions League final.

Having formed a formidable attacking trio with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané after the departure of Philippe Coutinho, Salah went on to be an integral player in the club's Champions League and Premier League title successes in the following two seasons, and has since also won the FA Cup, EFL Cup and FA Community Shield.

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, finished third for the Best FIFA Men's Player in 2018 and 2021, and finished fifth in the 2019 and 2022 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

He received the 2018 FIFA Puskás Award for his winning strike in the first Merseyside derby of the 2017–18 season.

In 2023, Salah became Liverpool's top Premier League goalscorer, and became the fifth player to score 200 goals for the club.

Salah is regarded as a symbol of national pride in Egypt for his achievements and was named in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in 2019.

Salah has also been credited for raising the profile of Liverpool among Egyptians.

To Egyptians, Salah is known as the "Fourth Pyramid".

Favoured across the Arab world, Salah is often known as the "Pride of the Arabs".

Salah started out playing for the youth setups of local teams Ittihad Basyoun and Othmason Tanta.

He names Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Francesco Totti as his childhood idols.