Controversy Over Mohamed Salah's Top Spot on Egypt's All-Time Scorers List

Discrepancies in statistics regarding the number of international goals for Egyptian star Mohamed Salah have sparked widespread debate about his right to top the all-time top scorers list for the 'Pharaohs' national team. He scored a brace against Malawi on Friday, bringing his tally to 70 goals according to some databases, surpassing his former coach Hossam Hassan, who holds the record with 69 goals.

The details of the controversy trace back to a report published by the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) on its official website in June 2026, which indicated that Salah had reached 68 goals for the Egyptian national team after scoring a goal against New Zealand during the 2026 World Cup, putting him one goal away from matching the record held by Hossam Hassan.

However, FIFA later adjusted its data, reducing the Egyptian captain's tally to 66 goals, before the player scored two goals against Malawi, bringing his count back up to 68 goals. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) published a report after the match, stating that Mohamed Salah had reached his 68th goal and was one goal away from matching Hossam Hassan's record.

This discrepancy is linked to the inclusion of two goals Salah scored in a friendly match between the Egyptian national team and its Swaziland counterpart, now known as Eswatini, on March 22, 2013, which ended in a 10-0 victory for the 'Pharaohs'.

Although Salah scored two goals during that match, the game does not appear in the Egyptian national team's international match record in the FIFA archives published on its website. The archive includes Egypt's match against Qatar on March 7, 2013, followed by a match against Zimbabwe on the 26th of the same month, with no mention of the Swaziland encounter.

According to reports on the issue, the match was excluded because it did not meet the conditions for accreditation as a top-tier international match, after the Egyptian national team's technical staff, led by American Bob Bradley at the time, made 10 substitutions during the game, exceeding the number allowed by the regulations in effect then.

Therefore, the match's non-accreditation in the official international record means the two goals Salah scored are excluded from his official international tally, making his total 68 goals according to statistics that exclude that match, versus 70 goals in other databases that count the two friendly match goals.

Salah had scored a brace against Malawi on Friday, boosting his goal tally with the Egyptian national team and continuing his pursuit of the record held by Hossam Hassan, who scored 69 goals during his international career with the 'Pharaohs'.

Thus, the debate over the identity of the Egyptian national team's all-time top scorer remains, given the differing statistical standards between counting all goals scored in friendly matches and excluding goals scored in non-accredited international encounters.