Mo Salah unlikely to win Ballon d'Or due to AFCON - Carragher

by Austin Ditlhobolo

Tuesday Feb 25, 2025. 13:00

Liverpool FC legend Jamie Carragher has argued that Mohamed Salah is unlikely to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or because AFCON isn’t a ‘major tournament.’

Many have tipped the Egyptian superstar to win the prestigious accolade due to his consistent and eye-catching displays for Liverpool in this season’s English Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Salah is set to captain Egypt at the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco between 21 December 2025 and 18 January 2026.

“The point I was trying to make yesterday was that Mo Salah is at a disadvantage playing for Egypt in terms of him winning the Balon d’Or. If Salah had an average season at Liverpool but won the AFCON & was MVP I don’t think he would win the Balon d’Or,” Carragher said.

“Because I don’t think AFCON carries the weight of other tournaments. But if (Kylian) Mbappe had an average season at Real Madrid but won the World Cup/Euros he would still have a great opportunity.

“It’s not just about certain tournaments, (Andriy) Shevchenko (Ukraine), and Lewandowski (Poland) were never going to win the WC/Euros to help their case for the prize. I don’t think it’s controversial at all really it’s just a fact. I know Mane came 2nd a few years back after winning the tournament but that alone wouldn’t have got him to that position, it was LFC being two games away from a quadruple that played a big role also,” he continued.

“It’s not disrespectful if I feel the WC/Euros/CP are better tournaments it’s just my opinion when I watch them. Saying it wasn’t a major competition was clumsy but I think most people watching could understand the point I was trying to make. The face I pulled when Micah (Richards) interjected had nothing to do with the merits of the tournament, I just knew as soon as he did what the reaction was going to be! I get a lot of people didn’t like what I said & that’s fine.

“I don’t normally respond to things on here with posts like this but I decided to tweet in the end after seeing so many phoneys jumping on the bandwagon and playing to the gallery when they knew what I meant. Good luck Mo you little dancer.”

Liberia’s George Weah is the first and only African Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in history, winning both awards in 1995.