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Mo Salah: Football is Life

How Liverpool and Egypt footballer Mo Salah is changing the world on and off the football pitch

The Liverpool and Egypt footballer Mo Salah became a phenomenon last season; breaking records and winning almost every award going in the English Premier League. In his adopted city of Liverpool, football fans of different faith, nationality and club allegiance describe how Salah has broken down the boundaries that divide them. The imam of the mosque where Salah prays describes how the player鈥檚 decision to openly perform sujood on the pitch after scoring his record-breaking sequence of goals encouraged the club鈥檚 fans to 鈥渢ake the first step鈥 towards understanding and accepting his faith, and how the city鈥檚 Muslim community will welcome them in return.

At home in Egypt, amid manic excitement surrounding Salah鈥檚 appearance in the European Champions League final and World Cup, the footballer has built on his success to carry out charity work. The head of the Egypt鈥檚 Anti-Drug and Addiction Fund says Salah鈥檚 influence has increased the number of calls to its addiction helpline by several times over. In Salah鈥檚 hometown, a charity established and funded by the footballer is transforming the lives of hundreds of the families that he grew up with.

Salah is one of the most successful footballers in the world today. Reporter Nick Garnett travels from the back-streets surrounding Liverpool鈥檚 stadium at Anfield to the Pyramids of Egypt to uncover how Salah鈥檚 exploits off the pitch may even eclipse his achievements on it.

(Photo: Mohamed Salah during the A.S. Roma v F.C. Inter match at the Olympic Stadium, Rome, 2016. Credit: Silvia Lore/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

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50 minutes

Last on

Wed 15 Aug 2018 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sun 12 Aug 2018 03:06GMT
  • Sun 12 Aug 2018 13:06GMT
  • Wed 15 Aug 2018 08:06GMT
  • Wed 15 Aug 2018 17:06GMT
  • Wed 15 Aug 2018 23:06GMT