Egypt FA ‘demands answers from FIFA’ over ‘missing’ Mo Salah player of the year votes

The Egyptian FA has reportedly demanded an explanation from FIFA over what it claims are missing votes for star man Mohamed Salah in the organization’s recent Best Men’s Player award.

Salah, 27, finished fourth in the vote to crown the world’s best men's player, which was won by Barcelona star Lionel Messi. Salah’s Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk came in second while Cristiano Ronaldo was third.

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But the Egyptian FA is said to have asked for an explanation as to why FIFA’s official vote listings did not name two of its three representatives who were eligible to give their picks – despite the people themselves stating they had voted for Salah.

There was no mention of coach Shawky Gharib's selections for his top three, nor the picks chosen by captain Ahmed Elmohamady. Both men have said they opted for Salah as their first choice.

© Global Look Press / Sameh Abo Hassan

The votes of official media representative Hany Danial were registered, with his choices being Senegal and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane in first, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo and then Salah.

The Egyptian FA is now reportedly investigating why those votes were not registered – and appear to be putting the blame at FIFA’s door, rather than any failure on their part to submit them. 

Salah, meanwhile, has removed the word ‘Egypt’ from his Twitter profile, which now simply reads ‘Footballer for Liverpool FC’.

He also issued a message which translates as "whatever they do to try to change my love for Egypt, they will not succeed," along with a picture of himself and images of fans and the national flag.

It is not the first time Salah has supposedly been unhappy at his own country’s football federation. There was talk during the World Cup in Russia last year of a rift in the Egypt camp - which the Egyptian FA rejected.

Salah was also reportedly involved in a row over image rights in August of last year.

"It is natural for any football association to try to solve the problems of its players... but really what I see is exactly the opposite," Salah tweeted at the time.