Mohamed Salah’s Egypt record disputed as FIFA count keeps Hossam Hassan ahead

Mohamed Salah’s celebration of reaching 70 goals for Egypt has reopened the debate over the national team’s all-time scoring record, with the Egyptian Football Association’s figures differing from those recognised by FIFA.

Salah posted a photograph from the dressing room in which he was smiling and holding a note bearing the number “70”. The image followed his two goals against Malawi and quickly attracted widespread attention on social media.

The brace helped Egypt secure an important victory and allowed Salah to celebrate what the country’s football authorities regard as another landmark in his international career. The achievement adds to a journey that began more than a decade ago, taking him from a young player at El Mokawloon to one of the world’s leading footballers and a major figure in modern Egyptian football.

But the image also highlighted a long-running statistical dispute involving Hossam Hassan, who scored 69 officially recognised international goals for Egypt.

According to the Egyptian Football Association’s figures, Salah has moved to 70 goals and has overtaken Hossam Hassan to become the Pharaohs’ leading scorer. FIFA’s records, however, list Salah on 68 goals, leaving him one behind Hossam Hassan. He would therefore need one more goal to draw level with Hassan and two to take the outright lead in FIFA’s official statistics.

Why FIFA records 68 goals

Salah’s total is 70 when all of Egypt’s senior international matches are included in domestic records and wider statistical counts. FIFA and Transfermarkt, the football statistics website, recognise 68 goals.

The difference is linked to the rules governing international friendlies. FIFA applies specific conditions for a match to qualify as a full international at “A” level, including limits on the number of substitutions. One of Salah’s matches did not meet those requirements.

The two goals omitted from FIFA’s records came in a friendly against Swaziland in 2013. Egypt made 10 substitutions in the match under former manager Bob Bradley, exceeding FIFA’s regulations, so the goals were excluded from the official international tally.

The Egyptian Football Association and Egyptian media statistics include all matches played by the senior national team, producing the 70-goal figure also reported by World Football. FIFA, by contrast, excludes goals scored in matches involving more than six substitutions.

Salah has also scored 10 goals for Egypt’s under-20, under-23 and Olympic teams, but those strikes are not included in the senior national-team totals by either statistical system.

As a result, Salah is simultaneously credited with 68 goals by FIFA and 70 by Egyptian records. Regardless of which measure is used, he remains one of Egypt’s leading scorers of the modern era, with the dispute certain to continue whenever he adds to his international total.