Mohamed Salah, known as The Pharaoh or The Egyptian King, is:
- one of the most recognisable African players
- among the best players in English Premier League, and
- one of the greatest football players globally.
But how familiar are you with the personal and football life of the Red’s number 11?
Check out these Mo Salah facts to see if you have missed something about him.
Childhood Facts
1. Salah was born in Nagrig, Egypt, in 1992
Born on the 15th of June 1992 in the village of Nagrig in Basyoun, Egypt, Salah is the first child in the family.
2. He was raised in Nagrig with his younger brother, Nasr Salah.
Salah is also called “the son of Nagrig”, and he has always remained true to his roots.
3. Academics were not his strong point.
Salah struggled to find a balance between his academics and football. But football had been his number one priority since childhood.
As he was committed to playing football, he couldn’t improve in academics. Thus, it worried his parents since they wanted him to have a conventional career.
4. Zidane, Ronaldo and Totti were his childhood idols.
He pretended to be them because of the vast admiration when he was out playing with his friends.
He was lucky enough to play in Roma with his idol, Totti, as he learned a lot from his calmness and confidence.
5. He signed his first contract with Al Mokawloon when he was 14.
Before the world knew who Mo Salah was, his youth career began at local clubs in Basyoun. But his first professional contract was with Al Mokawloon at 14.
He trained five times a week with the team based in Cairo. So he had difficulty travelling on different buses every day for hours.
However, he never lost hope of getting the chance to join the first team and become a big football name.
6. Salah used to play as a defender in his youth.
It’s odd that the deadly striker we all know today used to play as a defender, actually as a fullback, back in his youth football days.
Once when playing with his youth team, he failed to help them win. Because of his disappointment, the coach decided to play him upfront.
It resulted in the best decision ever made, as he kept scoring tons of goals after that.
Family Facts about Mo Salah
7. Mo got married to his teenage love in 2013.
Salah’s wife, Magi Sadeq, was born in the same part of Basyoun as him. She was his long-term girlfriend before they got married.
Some of the fun facts about Mo Salah is that his family made an open invitation to Mo and Magi’s large wedding. So every resident of the village could attend it.
Also, famous Egyptian singers like Hamada Hilal and Sa’ad Soghayar entertained the guests at the wedding.
8. He is a father to two daughters.
Mo and Magi had their first daughter Makka in 2014 in London while Salah was playing for Chelsea. She was named after the Islamic holy city Mecca.
Their second daughter was born in 2020 in Liverpool, named Kayan, which means nature and creation in Arabic.
9. Salah is a devoted Muslim.
He shows his allegiance by the way he celebrates every time he scores a goal when performing the sujud.
He always bows down, touching his forehead on the ground.
As he once said, it’s like praying or thanking God for what he has received.
10. His family got robbed in 2013.
In December 2013, when Salah’s family got robbed, he once again showed his greatness by convincing his father to drop the charges against the thief.
He wanted to give the thief money to build his life and even tried to find him a job. In a later interview statement, he said that every individual should have a chance to better themselves.
11. He could have been forced to serve in the military.
According to his country’s rules, at 22, he would have to return home to fulfil his military obligation. At that age, he was playing for Chelsea. As a result, he could have missed one or more years playing football for his military duties.
But luckily, the Egyptian Prime Minister, the Minister of Higher Education and the Egyptian national manager decided to free Mo from this responsibility to focus on his career.
Mo’s Soccer Career and Teams
12. Basel was his first European club in 2012.
The 20-times Swiss champion Basel FC signed the Egyptian talent on a four-season contract.
He made his debut in the UEFA Championship League and UEFA Europa League.
But his performance in two matches against Chelsea FC was crucial for the team’s interest in bringing him to their ranks.
13. Chelsea signed him for approximately £11 million.
Salah became the first Egyptian player to ever play for the club by signing for the English giant Chelsea. He is also one of the few in the PL’s history.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get many chances to show his skills playing under Jose Mourinho. However, he made only 13 appearances and scored only two goals in 2014.
The following year on the transfer deadline day, he was sent on loan to Fiorentina and exchanged with Juan Cuadrado.
14. His move to Roma proved successful.
In 2015, Salah was sent on another loan to Roma for €5 million with a permanent deal option for €15 million.
He enjoyed considerable success in Roma. He helped them finish third in Serie A in his first season and became the league’s top scorer in the 2015/16 season. Hence, the club decided to contract him permanently.
15. The offer from Liverpool was something hard to reject.
With his coming to Anfield and one of the most successful clubs in Europe, he became the first Egyptian player to ever play for the Reds, on a deal worth £36.5 million.
From 2017 until today, Salah has shown his tremendous skills, dribblings, assists and shootings.
The total number of goals scored, 117 up until now, is just proof that he’s a world-class player.
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16. Salah is the second-top scorer for Egypt’s national team.
His international career for the national team of Egypt started in 2010, playing for the U-20 and U-23 teams.
He represented his country in the U-20 World Cup and the 2021 Summer Olympics.
In this field, he also signifies success by scoring 47 goals in 84 games since 2011 playing for Egypt, Thus, being the second-top scorer for Egypt.
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17. He was African player of the year three times.
In just 29 years, he has already won many valuable awards and achievements and is considered one of the Premier League’s best players already. Such as:
- Premier League Player of the Month (2017, 2019),
- FIFA Puskas Award (2018),
- PFA PL Team of the Year (2017),
- CAF Africa’s Finest XI (2017-2021) and many more.
But probably the most notable awards are:
- African Player of the Year (2017,2018,2021) and
- Premier League Golden Boot (2017,2019).
Mohamed Salah’s Net Worth and Salary
18. Mo Salah’s net worth is approximately £73.3 million.
According to Forbes, Salah was the fifth-highest paid football player in 2021.
When we consider all the money from salaries, bonuses and endorsements, The Pharaoh’s net worth is estimated to be around £73.3 million ($90m).
19. The weekly salary he receives is an astounding £350k per week.
It makes him the highest-paid Liverpool player, right behind him are Thiago and Van Dijk.
That means he’s taking home an incredible amount of £18.2 million annually. This is not a problem for The Reds since we know they have one of the biggest wage bills in the Premier League.
20. The income from endorsements and sponsorships is around £12 million.
Mo Salah has deals with major brands like Adidas, Vodafone, Pepsi, Uber, and Falken Tires.
These endorsement deals are increasing his income to nearly £12 million annually.
One of the most significant is the one with Adidas in 2019.
Salah was Adidas’ face of their 1970s-born Adicolor line of sport campaign.
21. Mo stands as the fourth most expensive player in the world with £85.5 million.
On the Transfermarkt’s list of most valuable players in the world, Mo stands in fourth place with a market value of £85.5 million.
However, the top of the list is still occupied by Kylian Mbappe (£136 million) and Erling Haaland (£128.3 million).
Interesting Facts About Mo Salah
22. He has only been sent off once in his career up to now.
Salah is known as a calm player that’s barely making fouls. So, the number of disciplinary sanctions he’s received is deficient.
This fact might be because of his speed that opponents could not reach.
But he’s been only sent off once by receiving a second yellow card, and he’s been warned around 15 times throughout his whole career.
In comparison some of the football icons such as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been shown a red card more than once.
23. Once, Klopp didn’t want him in the squad.
One of the most unbelievable Mo Salah facts might be that, back in 2017, Liverpool’s world-class manager Jurgen Klopp was not interested in signing him. Instead, he wanted to bring BayerLeverkusen’s player Julian Brandt.
23. Salah is also known for his generosity and charity work.
He is constantly helping his village of Nagrig by donating to schools and hospitals. Moreover, he assists refugees and sets upchildren’ss charities across Nagrig.
In January 2021, he donated oxygen to his fellow citizens battling the second wave of Covid-19.
24. Salah finished second in the presidential elections in 2018.
During the Egyptian presidential elections in 2018, around one million people crossed out the names of the two candidates, Al-Sisi and Moussa.
Instead, they wrote the name of the Egyptian international star on the ballots.
If those votes had been considered legal, Salah would be a runner-up with 5% compared toMoussa’ss 3% andAl-Sisi’ss 92%.
25.There’ss a school in Basyoun named after him.
Last but not least, of the most interesting Salah facts is that his previous school was renamed in his honour after he scored the game-winning goal against DR Congo.
Bottom Line
So we’vee singled out some of the most interesting Mo Salah facts that might be unknown to some of you.
Hopefully, we’ve expanded your knowledge about the player that yet has a lot to show.
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