The proudest history, the biggest records, one of the favourites heading into this month’s tournament. Morocco and Senegal might be the big two right now, but Egypt have been Africa Cup of Nations winners on seven occasions and will have an air of expectation about them to go far once more this year.
And, adding reason and weight to that expectation, they have Mohamed Salah. The 31-year-old is the Pharaohs’ captain, one of Africa’s all-time best footballers and heads to the tournament in the Ivory Coast in a rich vein of form. He’s also likely to become Egypt’s record goalscorer sooner or later, currently sat 13 behind the great Hossam Hassan, who netted his 68 goals across 178 caps. To further cement Salah’s own legacy in the international arena, he will - barring one of the biggest shock group stage exits ever - become a centurion himself during the course of the 2023 Afcon.
On the domestic stage his ability is unquestioned, his superiority in his position unrivalled. He has a Champions League trophy to his name, a Premier League winner’s medal and a host of cups with Liverpool. Golden Boot awards, Player of the Year awards, Team of the Year selections and even a Puskas Award have all come his way, regularly and deservedly.
But among his many, many achievements - including being Egypt’s first goalscorer from open play at a World Cup since 1934 and one of only two Egyptians to score more than once at a World Cup finals - one title is lacking, one medal which might just mean more than most: that of an international competition, leading his teammates and his nation to glory.
Indeed, it’s all the more surprising, perhaps even galling, that Egypt’s unusual continental drought began just as Salah made his breakthrough.
It was Egypt who won the first-ever official Afcon final, triumphing in 1957. While the earliest decades of the tournament saw victors spread across the continent, a rough consolidation of success between fewer nations has been the trend since the 80s: nine different victors across just 24 years up to 1980, compared with ten different victors in the four decades from ‘82 onwards.
In this more recent era, Egypt became one of those African superpowers relatively early on, highlighted by their win in ‘98 being followed soon after by an unprecedented, unmatched and since then unequalled three successive triumphs: 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The following year, Salah made his senior international bow. The Pharaohs have not won a major honour since.
It is not, of course, to say that Salah has been a cause of that, nor that he has not contributed to the national team legacy - the aforementioned World Cup exploits are proof of that. Egypt had not been to a finals since Italia ‘90; at Russia in 2018 Salah was unfit and beset by off-field arguments with the national team association, yet still had an historic impact for the team on the pitch.
Salah lobs the Saudi Arabia goalkeeper to score for Egypt at the 2018 World Cup— (Getty Images)
Salah in action in this month ahead of the 2024 Afcon— (REUTERS)
But they also failed to reach the Afcon finals for three straight tournaments after triumphing in 2010, meaning their run to the 2017 final was the first time Salah had actually participated in an international event. Naturally he played his part there, netting once in the groups and once in the semis, plus scoring in a penalty shootout win to send his team through to face Cameroon - but defeat denied him adding to the rich history Egypt have in the competition.
Two years later he scored twice in the groups and that was that; a last-16 exit at the hands of South Africa made it a largely forgettable affair for Salah’s country, after the high of reaching the World Cup just a year earlier. Yet in the ‘21 event - actually played like many international tournaments of the time during the following calendar year - a low-scoring Egypt only needed another two from Salah to be enough for another spin to the final.
This time he scored in the quarters having already netted a shootout spot-kick one round earlier - but when the final itself went to penalties, Salah’s placing as Egypt’s final taker failed to pay dividends. Then-Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane scored Senegal’s fifth and that was that: two earlier misses for the Pharaos meant Salah never got to take his own, never got his chance to add a new chapter to the Afcon records and seal his own first international title.
Salah walks past the trophy after Senegal’s triumph on penalties— (AFP via Getty Images)
There is always the question of when a top player might be towards the end of his peak, when his powers on the biggest stage start to wane.
With Salah, there’s no immediate feeling that this tournament is his last at his best, but it could of course be his last as this particular type of player. Will he have the same acceleration and dribbling as he approaches age 34, when Morocco host the 2025 Afcon? Will Egypt still be built largely around him, or indeed will he hold his own fitness for that particular month?
Salah needs have no fear of effectiveness in the relatively near future, yet must also be conscious of the importance of the present: it could be his last chance, at least at the elite level.
Salah has 22 Premier League goals and assists combined this season— (Getty Images)
He’s the highest-scoring African player in Premier League history, the top scoring African in Champions League history, the African who has netted the most in a single campaign in England’s top flight and even the African player to claim the most assists in the Premier League’s existence.
In short, he has every major attacking attribute needed to thrive in the pursuit of success, and has showcased it game in, game out, year after year.
Egypt are not the favourites, but they do have the very best player at the tournament and for that reason alone would be ones to watch, even if it wasn’t for their untouchable number of past victories. Salah, now, seeks a part of that for himself. He has another page of history to write.
