Tokyo Olympics: Mohamed Salah excluded from Egypt football squad, here's why

In what comes terrible news for Egyptian football fans, star striker Mohamed Salah has been excluded from the national squad due to represent in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Although most footballers in the Olympics are aged below 23, three overaged players are allowed to feature in the side.

Although the reason for his rejection would break the Egyptian hearts, it would make his English Premier League club Liverpool’s fans happy. According to Olympics.com, The Reds has refused to release its star player ahead of its pre-season tour.

“The Olympic football competition also doesn’t feature on the FIFA calendar, thus leaving it up to the respective clubs to decide if they want to release their players for the Games. Mohamed Salah, 29, was initially expected to be one of Egypt’s three over-aged players for Tokyo 2020,” said Olympics in a statement.

“If Mohamed Salah, who helped Egypt make the quarter-finals at London 2012, played at Tokyo 2020, he would have missed Liverpool’s entire pre-season schedule. Furthermore, COVID-related travel restrictions may have affected Salah’s participation in Liverpool’s opening few fixtures of the upcoming Premier League season,” it added.

ALSO READ: Tokyo Olympics: IOC permits sides to have alternate players in squad

The men’s football competition for the Olympics is slated to get underway from July 22, while the gold medal match would be played on August 7, just seven days before the 2021-22 EPL season kicks off. However, Liverpool is likely to miss out on Salah in January 2022, as he would feature for Egypt during the African Cup of Nations.

Among the three overaged players for Egypt, goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy, defender Ahmed Hegazy and Mahmoud Hamdy have been announced. Meanwhile, Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal) and Mostafa Mohamed (Galatasaray) are the two other big names that miss out.

Egypt Tokyo Olympics squad
Goalkeepers: Mohamed El-Shennawy, Mohamed Sobhi and Mahmoud Gad.
Defenders: Ahmed Aboul Fotouh, Karim Fouad, Ahmed Hegazy, Mahmoud Hamdy, Mohamed Abdel Salam, Ahmed Ramadan, Osama Jalal and Karim Al Iraqi.
Midfielders: Akram Tawfik, Ammar Hamdi, Imam Ashour, Nasser Maher, Ramadan Sobhi, Ibrahim Adel, Abdel Rahman Magdy and Taher Mohamed.
Forwards: Ahmed Yasser Rayan, Salah Mohsen and Nasser Mansi.

NOTE: Asianet News humbly requests everyone to wear masks, sanitise, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Together we can and will break the chain #ANCares #IndiaFightsCorona

• Egypt
• Egypt football
• Egypt football player
• Egypt football team
• Egypt footballer
• Egyptian football
• Egyptian football player
• Egyptian football team
• Mohamed Salah
• Olympic Games
• Olympic Games 2020
• Olympic Games 2021
• Olympics
• Olympics 2020
• Olympics 2021
• Salah
• Tokyo Olympics
• Tokyo Olympics 2020
• Tokyo Olympics 2021
• Egyptian footballer
• football
• soccer