FIFA Explains Why Mo Salah Votes in Egypt Weren’t Counted for Men’s Best Award

FIFA has explained why votes from Egypt for Mohamed Salah were not counted for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.

The Egyptian FA claimed that acting head coach Shawky Gharib and captain Ahmed Elmohamady had both voted for Salah to win the award, which went to Lionel Messi for a sixth time.

However, neither Gharib nor Elmohamady were included on the voting breakdown on FIFA’s website – prompting an angry response from Salah, who removed the word ‘Egypt’ from his Twitter bio.

He also posted a tweet, which translates as: “Whatever they do to try to change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed.”

The Egyptian FA insisted their two representatives had voted for Salah and demanded an explanation from FIFA as to why the votes were not counted in the final ballot.

FIFA has since revealed that the signatures on Egypt’s ballots “were in capital letters and thus seemed not valid (not authentic)”, and that “voting forms were also not signed by the (federation) general secretary which is mandatory.”

FIFA contacted the Egyptian FA for confirmation of the ballots, then submitted “two reminders to submit the properly signed voting forms on August 19.”

Samson Oyedeyi