Egypt Announces Squad for FIFA World Cup 2026 with Mohamed Salah as Captain

Cairo. Egypt has announced its squad for the FIFA World Cup 2026, entrusting Mohamed Salah with the captaincy. This marks the first time that Egypt's captain Mohamed Salah will lead the team in the World Cup. Liverpool's key player Mohamed Salah will captain and lead the attack alongside Omar Marmoush of Manchester City. The World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Hossam Hassan is the head coach of Egypt. However, Nîmes forward Mostafa Mohamed, who is versatile, has been surprisingly left out of the 27-member preliminary squad. He only scored 4 goals in 24 games for Nîmes this season, and the club was relegated from French Ligue 1. In contrast, Barcelona Under-19 team's young player Hamza Abdelkarim is in excellent form and is considered one of the most promising young forwards in Egyptian football. Egypt will play a friendly match against Brazil in Cleveland on June 6, followed by the group stage opener against Belgium in Seattle on June 15. They will play New Zealand in Vancouver, Canada on June 21, and five days later will return to Seattle to play their final group G match against Iran. The 'Pharaohs' have qualified for the World Cup a total of four times: 1934, 1990, 2018, and 2026.

Egypt Squad:

Goalkeeper: Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly), Mostafa Shobeir (Al Ahly), El Mehdi Soliman (Zamalek), Mohamed Abou Gabal (Pyramids)

Defender: Mohamed Hany (Al Ahly), Tarek Ayman (Zamalek), Hamdy Fathy (Al Wakrah), Ramy Rabia (Al Ain), Yasser Ibrahim (Al Ahly), Hossam Abdelmaguid (Zamalek), Mohamed Abdelmonem (Nice), Ahmed Fatouh (Zamalek), Karim Hafez (Pyramids)

Midfielder: Marwan Attia (Al Ahly), Mohaned Lasheen (Pyramids), Nabil Emad (Al Najma), Mahmoud Saber (Zamalek), Ahmed Sayed Zizo (Al Ahly), Emam Ashour (Al Ahly), Mostafa Shalaby (Pyramids), Mahmoud Trezeguet (Al Ahly), Ibrahim Adel (Nordsjælland), Haitham Hassan (Real Oviedo)

Forward: Omar Marmoush (Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Akram Tawfik (Enppi), Hamza Abdelkarim (Barcelona U19)