Youth minister intervenes to solve dispute between Salah, EFA

CAIRO – 4 September 2018: Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi revealed his role in the mediation between Egyptian Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) in light of the current dispute over the player’s image rights.

Sobhi described the dispute as fierce, saying that he contacted the EFA to know the reasons behind the dispute. Sobhi said that he intervened in the issue following Salah’s post on Twitter, adding that Salah and his lawyer's speech was professional, except for calling on the EFA board to resign.

الطبيعي أن أي اتحاد كرة يسعى لحل مشاكل لاعبيه حتى يوفروا له الراحة.. لكن في الحقيقة ما أراه عكس ذلك تمامًا.. ليس من الطبيعي أن يتم تجاهل رسائلي ورسائل المحامي الخاص بي ... لا أدري لماذا كل هذا؟ أليس لديكم الوقت الكافي للرد علينا؟!

— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) August 26, 2018

Salah’s lawyer, Ramy Abbas, used a strong language to put forward the demands he said were discussed with Salah before being sent. On August 23, Abbas sent an email to President of the EFA, Hany Abo Rida, asking him to meet seven demands or Abbas- as Salah’s lawyer- will call for the immediate resignation of the EFA board.

The Youth Minister said that he contacted Salah, adding that his mentioned demands are all legal. Sobhi said that he had met Salah a week after the former took office, and that he pledged his support to the international player.


Abbas said that the EFA must confirm that it shall ensure that:

1) Two security guards are present outside Salah’s hotel room at all times, and another security guard is placed at the lifts of the floor in which his room is located.

2) All phone calls to Salah’s hotel room are blocked.

3) Salah will not be expected to be made available for any promotional appearances, interviews, meets and greets, sponsor events, official visits, “VIP” visits, picture sessions, or anything, by anyone on behalf of the EFA. All such appearances must be discussed with Abbas in advance as the sole director of MS Commercial (Cayman) LTD.

4) Whenever Salah travels for international duty, the EFA must ensure that he is picked up from the airplane and taken directly to his hotel room in the most discrete manner possible. All the staff involved in this must be made acutely aware that they are not to ask for pictures or autographs, or delay him in any way.

5) Salah must always be accompanied by two security guards at least and must be safely and comfortably transported to and from the training ground.

6) No one working for the EFA, or connected to the EFA (including, without limitation, guests of the EFA) may ask Salah for autographs or pictures. There will be a time and place for everything and this will be decided by MS Commercial (Cayman) LTD, and never by the EFA.

7) The image of Salah is never used by the EFA or by any sponsor of the EFA, without the written consent of MS Commercial, regardless of whether the image of Salah is used alone, or alongside other players of the Egyptian National Team (this request is made by Abbas on behalf of MS Commercial (Cayman) LTD in his capacity as director).

Earlier in September, state-owned Akhbar al-Youm revealed that the EFA decided to meet with Salah to end the clash and voice its rejection of Abbas’s actions on September 3, few days before a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Egypt and Niger.

The Egyptian footballer who is currently nominated for FIFA's player of the year, along with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Croatia's Luka Modric, arrived at Cairo International Airport on Sunday to join the Egyptian national team in preparing to play Niger next Saturday.

Read more details about Salah’s dispute with the EFA:

Salah's dispute with EFA escalated

CAIRO – 28 August 2018: Egypt Today engaged in the detailed correspondences between Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah’s lawyer, Ramy Abbas, and the Egyptian Federation Association EFA in the light of the current dispute over the player’s image rights.