Mohamed Salah continues to set records, and now he’s moving on to the Egyptian national team and Africa after numerous individual and collective achievements in the English Premier League and European competitions with Liverpool.
Salah scored two goals in Egypt’s 3-0 victory over Djibouti, securing the Pharaohs’ qualification for the 2026 World Cup for the fourth time in Egyptian history, and the second in the 33-year-old’s career after their first appearance at Russia 2018.
Salah’s total number of goals in the African World Cup qualifiers throughout his career has reached 20, breaking the African legends’ record in the qualifiers and becoming the player with the most goals in this important international arena.
Before this match, Salah shared first place with Ivorian legend Didier Drogba, Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o, and Algerian legend Islam Slimani, with 18 goals each. After his 37th qualifying match, the “Egyptian King” now holds the sole lead in World Cup qualifiers’ scoring charts.
It’s worth noting that Drogba needed 47 qualifying matches to score 18 goals, while Samuel Eto’o needed 44 and Slimani 37. Salah surpassed them all in just 37 matches.
It’s worth noting that Salah participated in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time in the 2014 edition, when Egypt was eliminated in the play-offs by Ghana. He was then the main reason behind Hector Cuper’s team qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. He also played a major role in the 2022 qualifiers, which Egypt lost on penalties to Senegal, and finally in the new format in 2026.
It’s also worth noting that Salah has now scored 63 goals for the Egyptian national team, just five goals behind the all-time top scorer and current national team coach, Hossam Hassan.
