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Mohamed Salah continues to stack up new records. He was voted the 2018 Football Supporters’ Federation’s (FSF) Men’s Player of the Year, for the second year in a row. He surpassed his rivals with an outstanding season.
“No other player was able to compete,” reports Egypt’s Daily News. “He is the best player in the history of Egypt.”
Football experts from inside and outside Africa nominated the top five players based on their technical abilities, team play, the impact in regional and scoring results, individual skills, and performance during the season. Additionally, the judges are asked to consider the player’s contribution to football and sports overall.
The four other African players were considered for the title include Kalidou Koulibaly, playing for Senegal and Napoli; Mehdi Benatia, representing Morrocco and Juventus; Sadio Mane, for Senegal and Liverpool; and Thomas Partey, a player for Ghana and Athletico Madrid.
Salah is the third Egyptian and fifth Arab player to win the BBC award since its creation in 1991. The first was Mohammed Barakat in 2005, the next was Mohamed Aboutrika in 2008, and in 2014 the title winner was Yacine Brahimi.
About Mohamed Salah
He is adored by fans around the world and considered an Egyptian icon. In 2018, his name was the second most Googled in Egypt behind the term, “the final exams’ results.”
Salah plays for the Premier League in Liverpool, England and Presentation Egyptian Premier League’s Pharaohs, which is the national team. The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) ranks Salah as “the world’s fourth most expensive player from a transfer value perspective,” according to MVSLIM.
He was born June 15, 1992, and calls Nagrig, Gharbia in Egypt his hometown. The great footballer is 5 foot 9 inches tall and plays forward on both teams; his Liverpool jersey number is 11.
During his youth career, he played for three teams: 2004-05, Ittihad Basyoun; 2005-06, Othmason Tanta; and 2006-10, El Mokawloon. In 2011, representing Egypt, his team placed third in African Youth Championship at the Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. The Cup is the international competition for players under the age of 20 in the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
In his senior career, he played for the following teams: 2010-12, El Mokawloon; 2012-14, Basel; 2014-16, Chelsea, in 2015 he was on loan to Fiorentina and for the 2015-16 season Roma; 2016-17, Roma; since 2017, he has played for Liverpool.
Salah has played on the National team in Egypt since 2010, beginning with the U-20 (under 20 years old) for the 2010-11 season; next is the U-23 in 2011-12; and since 2011, he has played for the Pharaohs. In 2017, represented Egypt in the African Cup of Nations, his team was the runner-up.
In addition to the 2018 BBC African Footballer of the Year, the iconic Egyptian has earned numerous awards: 2012, SAFD (Swiss Super League) Golden Player; in 2017 he became the first to win Premier League Player three times in one season, the Professional Footballer’s Association of Players’ Player of the Year, and the 2017 BBC African Footballer of the Year.
On the international front in 2011, Salah earned the CAF Most Promising Player, and in 2018, the CAF African Footballer of the Year.
In Nagrig, he celebrated this year’s BBC African Footballer of the Year award with his fans. “It feels great to win the award again, and I hope to win it for the third time in 2019,” Salah said according to Daily News Egypt.
Written by Cathy Milne-Ware
Sources:
Daily News Egypt: Salah voted BBC African Footballer for second straight year
Daily News Egypt: Egypt’s most googled words in 2018: ‘Salah’, ‘World Cup’
MVSLIM: Football Star Mohamed Salah Wins Men’s Player of the Year Award: “It Means So Much to Me, As It Was Voted For By Supporters”
Featured Image Courtesy of Celso FLORES’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Top Image Courtesy of Анна Нэсси for Wikimedia – Creative Commons License