How many games could Salah play between now and World Cup?

To place it mildly, Mo Salah might be a really busy man over the following 9 months!

The Liverpool famous person scored twice in Egypt’s 3-0 win over Djibouti on Wednesday, which secured the Pharaohs’ qualification for the 2026 World Cup with a match to spare.

That’s not the one worldwide event on the horizon for the 33-year-old, who’s additionally set to be concerned along with his nation on the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) over the Christmas and New Yr, which is historically one of many busiest interval of the English soccer calendar.

The fixtures will come thick and quick for Salah at membership and worldwide degree between now and subsequent summer season, and if he’s to stay injury-free all through that point (fingers crossed), he might have fairly the workload.

What number of video games might Salah play within the subsequent 9 months?

October-December

At current, Liverpool have 14 confirmed fixtures within the diary between now and the beginning of AFCON, with the opportunity of yet another in the event that they get previous Crystal Palace within the Carabao Cup fourth spherical.

That quarter-final would happen the week earlier than Christmas, by which period Salah might be in Morocco to prepare for the African event, previous to which Egypt will possible play two friendlies subsequent month in preparation for the continental competitors.

Potential video games for Salah: 16 (14 Liverpool, 2 Egypt)

Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt’s first AFCON fixture is on 22 December towards Zimbabwe, and in the event that they make it to the ultimate on 18 January (which is believable provided that they’re one in all Africa’s highest-ranked nations), they’ll play seven matches in whole on the event.

That’d even be the case in the event that they progress to the semi-finals and lose, as this competitors has a 3rd place play-off akin to the World Cup.

Potential video games for Salah: 7

January-Could

That is the place guesswork comes into play, relying on how far Egypt progress at AFCON and Liverpool advance in knockout competitions.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that the Pharaohs go the gap within the winter event. We’re most likely taking a look at a return date of 24 January for Salah at membership degree, with the Reds going through Bournemouth on that date.

At that time, Arne Slot’s facet would have 16 Premier League matches remaining. In the event that they make it to the finals of each home cups and the Champions League (as they did in 2021/22), they’d play an extra 17 video games between the AFCON closing and finish of Could, ought to they go into the knockout play-off spherical in Europe.

There’s additionally a world window in March when Egypt will nearly definitely play a few friendlies in preparation for the World Cup.

Potential video games for Salah: 35 (33 Liverpool, 2 Egypt)

World Cup

The 2026 World Cup begins on 11 June and runs to 19 July, and the enlargement to 48 groups has resulted in a further knockout spherical which’ll require the taking part nations to play eight matches in the event that they’re to win the event (or get to the semi-finals).

Egypt gained’t be among the many favourites to win the entire thing, however with 32 international locations advancing from the group stage, it’s believable that they might make it to the knockout part. Even when they get to the spherical of 16, that’d nonetheless see them have 5 video games in North America.

Potential video games for Salah: 8

Conclusion

Clearly it’s extremely unlikely that Salah will play in each single recreation for Liverpool and Egypt over the following 9 months, however his sturdy harm file and massive significance for each membership and nation will most likely see him characteristic within the majority of these if he stays match and obtainable.

The 33-year-old might theoretically play as many as 66 matches in that timeframe, having already racked up 13 for the reason that begin of August. Simply take a second to ponder what it have to be wish to doubtlessly play 79 video games of soccer at an elite degree within the house of a 12 months.

Even an exceptional bodily specimen just like the Reds’ quantity 11 would discover such a workload taking its toll!