Mohamed Salah flopped for Egypt at 2018 World Cup due to Liverpool star’s public spat with country’s FA over use of his image on team plane, claims former chief
- Mo Salah was Egypt’s key player in 2018 World Cup but team flopped in Russia
- Winger was not at his best and his side crashed to three disappointing defeats
- Former official at Egyptian FA thinks poor form was down to image rights row
- Salah had high profile fall out with FA and former president, Hani Abu Reeda
Mo Salah’s off colour performances for Egypt at the 2018 World Cup were down to his dispute with the country’s FA over his image rights, according to a former official.
The Liverpool forward was heralded as Egypt’s key man and all hopes were pinned on him in Russia, but the team slumped to three defeats.
At the time, Salah was at loggerheads with Hani Abu Reeda, president of the Egyptian FA at the time, over the organisation using his image on the side of a plane without asking his permission.
Mo Salah’s public row affected on his displays at the 2018 World Cup, says Hazem Emam
Salah’s image was used on the side of the club’s plane without asking his permission
The very public row affected Salah and his performances suffered, says former Egyptian FA official Hazem Emam.
He believes the hopes at the tournament began to unravel when Salah appeared in a team photo on Egypt’s plane, laid on by sponsor WE – but the player had a sponsorship deal with a rival company, Vodafone.
Emam, who played 87 times for Egypt and was nicknamed the ‘Emperor’, told OnTime Sports: ‘Mohamed Salah had a disagreement with the former president of the federation, Hani Abu Reeda.
‘We should have asked Salah before using his image on the national team’s aeroplane before the World Cup, that was the beginning of the whole problem.
Egypt ended up losing to Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Russia in their group games
‘This disagreement had a bad influence on Salah during the World Cup. As a result. he did not celebrate his goals.’
At the time, Salah took to social media and wrote: ‘Sorry but this is a major insult. I was hoping the deal would be classier than this.’
The dispute was huge news in Egypt and went right to the top. A swift intervention made by Sports Minister Khaled Abdel-Aziz ruled in Salah’s favour.
Abdel-Aziz said: ‘I assure everyone that we will stand by him to honor all the contracts he entered in England.
Hazem Emam (left) said on national television that the spat was a ‘bad influence’ on Salah
Abu Reda resigned as president after the tournament having seen Egypt lose 1-0 against Uruguay, 3-1 against Russia and 2-1 against Saudi Arabia.
In addition the claims that the row had cause Salah not to reach his best during the tournament, it should be noted that he was coming off a dislocated shoulder injury suffered in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
He faced a race to be fit for the World Cup so may have lacked match sharpness but did end up scoring both his team’s goals in the competition.