Salah named new captain of Egypt

Mohamed Salah of Egypt during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Tuesday Oct 01, 2019. 14:00

Egypt coach Hossam El Badry has named Mo Salah as the new captain of The Pharaohs, possibly a move to placate the Liverpool forward after a series of run-ins with the national association.

El Badry announced that Salah would take over from Aston Villa defender Ahmed Elmohamady, who led the team in their disastrous 2019 Africa Cup of Nations campaign where the side exited in the second round at the hands of South Africa.

Officials will be twitchy after Salah changed his Twitter bio to read only ‘Footballer for Liverpool FC’ having removed any reference to the Egypt national team.

It followed an embarrassing administrative slip-up by the Egyptian Football Association, who failed to submit the coach and captain votes for the FIFA Best Player award that was won by Lionel Messi.

Both had voted for Salah, and while it would not have seen him win the trophy, it was another failure from the EFA in the eyes of Salah.

Salah has been called into camp for the October FIFA International window, where the team will host Botswana in a low-key friendly in Cairo on October 14.