Earlier this year, Egypt beat Congo with a penalty kick in the 95th minute, scored by Mohamed Salah, to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for the first time in almost three decades. Fans took to Twitter to celebrate via several top-trending hashtags in Egypt in 2017, including #مصر, #Egypt, #روسيا, and #تحيا_مصر, with many people praising Salah for his last-minute goal.
Salah is a professional Egyptian footballer who currently plays as a winger for Liverpool and the Egyptian National Team. Conversation around the player flooded Twitter, particularly in Egypt, following the World Cup win and his continuous achievements as a player for Liverpool in his first season. This year Salah (@22mosalah) was the most mentioned athlete in Egypt for the year 2017, and occupied ninth place in terms of overall mentions on Twitter in the country.
The player’s most retweeted tweet was upon Saudi Arabia’s qualification for the World Cup:
His second most retweeted was a photo of him wearing his Liverpool jersey, on his first day of joining the Premier League team:
Additionally, the player’s tweet below about the penalty kick he scored for Egypt ranked as his third most retweeted, and was amongst the top 10 retweets in Egypt overall this year:
Several state officials, including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Elsisi (@AlsisiOfficial) and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (@HHShkMohd), tweeted in celebration of the World Cup qualifications.
Furthermore, celebrities, including Mahmoud Al Bezzawy (@albezzawy), whose tweet ranked 21st for Egypt’s top retweets this year, and many others, expressed their pride and love for Salah and the Egyptian football team:
