Mohamed Salah is set to participate in two major international tournaments over just six months with Egypt after their latest qualification success.
Salah scored a brace for his country to help secure their place in the 2026 World Cup, with Egypt becoming only the third African nation to qualify so far.
Next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada runs from June 11 to July 19, meaning it starts just 18 days after the Premier League season concludes on May 24.
With the exception of injury forcing his absence, Salah will be there to lead his country in only his second career World Cup. He will turn 34 while at the tournament.
Egypt will play a minimum of three fixtures, but this comes after they compete in the Africa Cup of Nations merely six months previous.
- AFCON: December 21, 2025 – January 18
- Premier League concludes: May 24
- World Cup: June 11 – July 19
The tournament takes place in Morocco from December 21 to January 18, which was moved to accommodate the newly expanded Club World Cup, which took place this summer.
Egypt are among the favourites for the title after reaching two of the last four finals, and qualifying for the last two would see Salah’s country play a total of seven games.
Salah could miss as many as six Premier League games while AFCON takes place, including games against Tottenham and Arsenal, along with a potential Carabao Cup semi-final opener.
It asks a lot of Salah
Salah is consistently one of Liverpool’s most-used players, and with two major tournaments there will be concerns over what it takes out of him for the second half of this season and for 2026/27.
He has already played 838 minutes, and across season 2024/25 he played the second-most of any Liverpool player across club and country (4,936), with only Virgil van Dijk amassing more.
There will be an increased risk of injury, not that FIFA take that into account each time they finalise their schedule and seemingly find more room for matches.
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