The Egyptian forward, who joined the Turkish club on a free transfer, came off the bench early in the second half.
Published On 16 Aug 202616 Aug 2026
Ex-Liverpool star Mohamed Salah made his competitive debut for Trabzonspor on Saturday, coming off the bench in their Turkish Super Lig opener as Kasimpasa rallied from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw.
Trabzonspor took the lead in the first half through Noah Saviolo before Kasimpasa’s Adrian Benedyczak levelled from the penalty spot in the second half.
The Egypt forward, deployed on the right wing, helped create a number of openings for the visitors but Trabzonspor were unable to find a winner.
Salah in action against Kasimpasa’s Andri Baldursson [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
“It’s a sad start today,” Trabzonspor coach Fatih Tekke said.
“It was a game we had to be victorious in, but we couldn’t succeed.”
“Thursday is really important; we play a match in Europe, and the opponent is far better than us,” Tekke added, referring to Trabzonspor’s Europa League playoff with Hungarian side Ferencvaros on August 20.
Trabzonspor, seven-time Turkish champions, finished third in the Super Lig last season and won the Turkish Cup.
Widely known as the “Egyptian King” among his fans, Salah established himself as a Premier League great with Liverpool, winning two league titles and the Champions League among eight major honours at the Anfield club.
The forward is considered among the greatest players of all time and the best from the African continent in recent years.
Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has been greeted by hundreds of fans upon arriving in Istanbul wearing Trabzonspor’s burgundy-and-blue kit ahead of his expected move to the Turkish Super Lig club.
In a statement, Trabzonspor said Salah will arrive in Istanbul on Wednesday.
“The player is planned to reach Trabzon in the evening of the same day,” it said.
“The time and other details regarding the welcome program in Trabzon will be shared with the public through our club’s official communication channels during the day.”
Nicknamed the Black Sea Storm, Trabzonspor have won seven league titles, six of which came between 1976 and 1984.
In 2022, they claimed their most recent league success, ending a 38-year wait.
Based in the north-eastern city of Trabzon, they are one of only six teams to have won the Turkish Super Lig.
Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in June 2017 and won numerous honours with the club during a nine-year spell.
He helped the Reds to win two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Club World Cup, Uefa Super Cup, FA Cup and two EFL Cups, as well as the Community Shield.
During his time in England, the Egyptian won the Premier League Golden Boot on four occasions and was named the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year three times – in 2018, 2022 and 2025.
In the process, he scored 257 goals and provided 120 assists from 442 appearances for Liverpool.
For some Egyptian football fans, watching Mohamed Salah qualify with Egypt for two World Cups in 2018 and 2026 will never make up for the fact that the “golden generation” did not get their shot in 2006, 2010 or 2014.
“It is unfair to compare the two generations,” Ahmed Elshiekh, a former national team player who now covers the World Cup for Modern MTI TV, told Al Jazeera.
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“The golden generation did everything but get to the World Cup. They beat Italy [when they were World Cup champions]. The draw in qualification was just unkind to them.”
Salah is the captain and leader of the current generation. He won every trophy on offer while playing for Liverpool in a glittering nine-year career that saw him become the highest scoring foreigner in the history of the English Premier League.
Given his status, it is perhaps no surprise that Salah shouldered the blame for an AFCON drought that stretches back to 2010. His achievement in dragging Egypt to the 2018 World Cup in Russia is brushed aside due to the fact that Egypt was the first team to be eliminated. A half-fit Salah, who had dislocated his shoulder in the UEFA Champions League final, scored twice, but Egypt lost all three matches, including to Saudi Arabia.
The failures were compounded when Egypt lost the 2021 AFCON final to Senegal on penalty kicks. Thirteen months later, Egypt met Senegal in a World Cup playoff and once again lost on penalty kicks. In the first shootout, Salah was designated as the fifth taker but never got a chance to take his penalty. For the second shootout, perhaps realising his mistake, he went first and missed.
Salah might have been one of the best players in the Premier League, but Egypt fans were frustrated. To soothe their pain, they hung on to the memories of a team that was crowned African champions in 2006, 2008 and 2010 – successes that were spearheaded by the legendary midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika, who is equally famous for his “Sympathise with Gaza” T-shirt as he is for his immaculate first touch.
The despondence was so deep that fans had lost hope for their national team. AFCON 2023 was blighted by an injury to Salah, who elected to return to Liverpool for rehabilitation but promised to return should the team advance to the final. Egypt’s tournament ended shortly after that statement, courtesy of a penalty shootout defeat in the round of 16.
Working at that time as an analyst for Egyptian TV, now-Egypt manager Hossam Hassan said that if Salah had done that on his watch, he would “never pick him for the national team again”.
A couple of weeks later, Hassan was appointed to lead the national team after Rui Vitoria’s dismissal.
It was widely speculated that the only reason the Egyptian Football Association hired Hassan was because the currency crisis had prevented them from attracting a foreign manager.
“Hossam Hassan as a player has achieved everything you can imagine,” Elsheikh said, referencing the former striker’s record 69 goals for Egypt and three AFCON titles.
“But as a manager, we saw what he can produce, and the results were not great. … Also he brought problems and created crises.”
The crises Elsheikh referred to have been a hallmark of Hassan’s journeyman coaching career marked by brawls and altercations with fans.
But the appointment proved to be a stroke of unintended genius.
Salah shoots and scores in a penalty shoot-out during the 2026 World Cup round of 32 football match between Australia and Egypt at the Dallas Stadium in Arlington on July 3, 2026 [Paul Ellis/AFP]
Salah finds form under Hassan
Instead of falling out with Salah, he and Hassan became joined at the hip. If there was anyone who could understand the pressure of Salah’s position, it was Hassan, who had lived it all before but with the added pressure of having played mostly in Egypt and having crossed the Cairo divide when he left Al Ahly to sign with bitter rivals Zamalek.
“Hassan does have a captain’s personality and is very energetic. He might not be the strongest tactically, but he does provide a solid defensive base” Elsheikh said.
Salah has enjoyed a rich vein of form under Hassan’s tutelage. Egypt qualified for the 2026 World Cup undefeated, winning eight out of their 10 matches. The team also reached the semifinals of the 2025 AFCON tournament – not that the achievement silenced any of the doubters.
Of course, it’s not all about Salah. Egypt have a raft of talented players, including Man City’s Omar Marmoush and Al Ahly’s Emam Ashour.
Their undefeated team is going into the round of 16 to face defending champions Argentina on Tuesday. Egypt have overcome a great deal of adversity to reach this stage of the tournament as well.
A second-half comeback against New Zealand in the group stage was needed to secure the nation’s first win at a World Cup. Salah exited the final group game against Iran with a hamstring injury but played all 120 minutes of the penalty shootout win over Australia in the last 32. The 34-year-old converted his kick with a Panenka against Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
In the aftermath of that victory, Aboutrika, now an analyst for beIN Sports, did his best to pass the baton to the new generation.
Goalscorer Ashour had expressed his joy at being compared to Aboutrika, saying his ambition was to be “as half as good or even a quarter as good as him”.
Later on in the studio, Aboutrika responded by saying: “You are better than [me]. You’ve scored two goals in a World Cup,” and insisting that this was the biggest night in the history of Egyptian football.
Not everyone is so convinced.
“This Egypt team is better than any we have seen in years yet is still remarkably fragile,” opined Karim Zidan, a writer focused on the intersection of sports, power and politics.
Salah, meanwhile, was once again asked who was the greatest Egyptian player of all time and again deferred to Aboutrika, saying “there is absolutely no discussion.”
Salah led Egypt to their first victory in the country’s 92-year tournament history against New Zealand.
Published On 22 Jun 202622 Jun 2026
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored his first goal of the tournament as part of a second-half flurry to deliver Egypt their first-ever World Cup victory, 3-1, over New Zealand in Vancouver.
Both Salah and Mostafa Zico bagged a goal and an assist apiece as Egypt rallied from a 1-0 half-time deficit and took over first place in Group G on Sunday. Trezeguet scored Egypt’s third goal for late insurance.
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Salah celebrated his 68th international goal by pumping his fist before he was mobbed by his teammates in the 67th minute to the delight of the red-clad Pharaohs fans in the sellout crowd at BC Place, Vancouver.
When Salah was substituted in the 85th minute, he was treated to a standing ovation.
The first three matches of Group G ended in draws, including Belgium and Iran posting a scoreless tie earlier on Sunday, leaving the group open for the taking. New Zealand (0-1-1, 1 point) thought they were on that path after Finn Surman’s headed goal off a 15th-minute set piece gave them a lead they held for nearly half the match.
Egypt will finish the group stage against Iran on Friday, all but assured of advancing to the knockouts no matter the result. New Zealand, still seeking their own first World Cup win, will take aim at Belgium on the same day in their hopes of advancing.
Mostafa Shoubir made four saves for Egypt, while Max Crocombe recorded four for New Zealand.
New Zealand earned their go-ahead corner kick when Elijah Just had a strong effort on target, and Shoubir sent it out of bounds.
Tim Payne’s ensuing corner found Surman in space. Surman’s jumping header went past a helpless Shoubir to give the All Whites the lead.
Egypt had a promising look in the 35th minute on a free kick from the edge of the box after Callum McCowatt picked up a yellow card for a poor tackle. A teammate laid the ball off for Salah, whose attempt on goal missed to the left.
Egypt had more control and more of the chances in the second half, starting immediately when Salah pressured Crocombe into a save less than 40 seconds in.
But the Pharaohs finally broke through in the 58th minute. Mohamed Hany landed a perfect cross for Zico, whose header near the 6-yard line struck Crocombe’s glove on its way in.
Salah’s turn came nine minutes later. Zico connected with Salah up the right side on a transition play. He dribbled around his man into the box and tapped a pass ahead to Zico, who back-heeled it into a pocket of space for Salah to finish with a left-footed shot to the bottom-left corner.
Trezeguet wrapped up the match in the 82nd minute on another header from a corner kick. Salah sent in a low offering, and Trezeguet was unmarked as his diving header bounded in. It was Trezeguet’s 24th career goal in an international competition and his first at a World Cup.
“In years to come, we will remember that this was one of the achievements in history,” Salah said.
He praised the large Egyptian contingent in the crowd, saying: “It feels like we are playing in Egypt. It’s a great win and great vibe.”
Salah may have been a superstar at Liverpool. He is on an even higher plane in Egypt.
With every touch comes loud cheers from his country’s fans, with huge pressure on his shoulders on every appearance.
Sunday’s goal was his 68th for his country in 118 appearances, leaving him just one shy of manager Hassan’s all-time goal scoring record, and some will say it’s his most important yet as Egypt finally ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win.
No player has been involved in more shots during a game at this World Cup than Salah was against New Zealand – having five shots himself and creating five more for others.
Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, told ITV: “If there was any doubt about Mo’s impact on this team, you can still see it.
“It will give them enormous belief. They had to deal with adversity and their big player stood up and that will give them big confidence. You need your big players to perform to progress.”
Former Jamaica winger Jobi McAnuff added: “Just when he was needed, Mo Salah stood up for his country.”
Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured.
“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about the time Salah sustained a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool’s defeat by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later.
But, despite helping Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019-20 and 2024-25, the player has yet to lift a trophy for his country.
The generation before Salah won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in a row between 2006 and 2010. Since then, there have been two defeats in finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in the 2021 edition, which took place in early 2022.
This World Cup win at least banishes one of Egypt’s ghosts.
