To place it mildly, Mo Salah could possibly be a really busy man over the subsequent 9 months!
The Liverpool famous person scored twice in Egypt’s 3-0 win over Djibouti on Wednesday, which secured the Pharaohs’ qualification for the 2026 World Cup with a match to spare.
That’s not the one worldwide event on the horizon for the 33-year-old, who’s additionally set to be concerned together with his nation on the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) over the Christmas and New 12 months, which is historically one of many busiest interval of the English soccer calendar.
The fixtures will come thick and quick for Salah at membership and worldwide stage between now and subsequent summer season, and if he’s to stay injury-free all through that point (fingers crossed), he may have fairly the workload.
What number of video games may Salah play within the subsequent 9 months?
October-December
At current, Liverpool have 14 confirmed fixtures within the diary between now and the beginning of AFCON, with the potential of yet one more in the event that they get previous Crystal Palace within the Carabao Cup fourth spherical.
That quarter-final would happen the week earlier than Christmas, by which period Salah might be in Morocco to prepare for the African event, previous to which Egypt will seemingly play two friendlies subsequent month in preparation for the continental competitors.
Potential video games for Salah: 16 (14 Liverpool, 2 Egypt)
Africa Cup of Nations
Egypt’s first AFCON fixture is on 22 December in opposition to Zimbabwe, and in the event that they make it to the ultimate on 18 January (which is believable on condition that they’re one among Africa’s highest-ranked nations), they’ll play seven matches in complete on the event.
That’d even be the case in the event that they progress to the semi-finals and lose, as this competitors has a 3rd place play-off akin to the World Cup.
Potential video games for Salah: 7
January-Could
That is the place guesswork comes into play, relying on how far Egypt progress at AFCON and Liverpool advance in knockout competitions.
For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that the Pharaohs go the space within the winter event. We’re in all probability a return date of 24 January for Salah at membership stage, with the Reds going through Bournemouth on that date.
At that time, Arne Slot’s aspect would have 16 Premier League matches remaining. In the event that they make it to the finals of each home cups and the Champions League (as they did in 2021/22), they’d play an extra 17 video games between the AFCON remaining and finish of Could, ought to they go into the knockout play-off spherical in Europe.
There’s additionally a global window in March when Egypt will nearly definitely play a few friendlies in preparation for the World Cup.
Potential video games for Salah: 35 (33 Liverpool, 2 Egypt)
World Cup
The 2026 World Cup begins on 11 June and runs to 19 July, and the enlargement to 48 groups has resulted in an extra knockout spherical which’ll require the collaborating nations to play eight matches in the event that they’re to win the event (or get to the semi-finals).
Egypt gained’t be among the many favourites to win the entire thing, however with 32 nations advancing from the group stage, it’s believable that they might make it to the knockout part. Even when they get to the spherical of 16, that’d nonetheless see them have 5 video games in North America.
Potential video games for Salah: 8
Conclusion
Clearly it’s extremely unlikely that Salah will play in each single recreation for Liverpool and Egypt over the subsequent 9 months, however his sturdy damage document and massive significance for each membership and nation will in all probability see him characteristic within the majority of these if he stays match and accessible.
The 33-year-old may theoretically play as many as 66 matches in that timeframe, having already racked up 13 because the begin of August. Simply take a second to ponder what it should be prefer to probably play 79 video games of soccer at an elite stage within the house of a yr.
Even an exceptional bodily specimen just like the Reds’ quantity 11 would discover such a workload taking its toll!
