09 ISSUE VII
SEPTEMBER 2025
SEPTEMBER 2025
Accidental Theorist: Mohamed Salah
What would a Mohamed Salah theory of international affairs look like?
By Sean Jacobs
Until recently, figuring out the politics of the footballer Mohamed Salah was a challenging task. One of the greatest players in the history of the English Premier League, he also captained Egypt to two African Cup of Nations finals and led the team to its first World Cup appearance in 28 years in 2018. His goals for Liverpool FC were pivotal to the club’s revival, bringing two long-awaited Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League crown. He is also the highest-profile Arab and African player in the professional game.
Image via Heute.
Academics have speculated about his symbolic role in reducing Islamophobia among football fans in the UK. At home, Egyptians—worn down by decades of authoritarian rule, interrupted only briefly in 2011—hoped Salah would challenge the generals who have dominated political life. Instead, he seemed to keep his politics close to the chest. Some commentators suggested he was more interested in his commercial image, reluctant to offend advertisers and consumers.
That changed in early August, when Salah responded to a post on X by European football’s governing body, UEFA, about the killing of retired Palestinian footballer Suleiman Al-Obeid by the IDF in Gaza. UEFA’s tribute read: “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pelé’. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
Salah replied: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
At the time of writing, over 396,000 users had reposted Salah’s comment, and another 1.5 million had liked it.
Al-Obeid, a former member of the Palestinian men’s national team, was killed in an IFP strike targeting civilians waiting for aid in southern Gaza.
But is Salah’s tweet the norm and - in the tradition of this series - what would a Mohamed Salah theory of international affairs look like? Salah is a sports figure first and foremost. And while some athletes—like the cricketer Viv Richards or Salah’s fellow footballers Diego Maradona and Juninho Pernambucano, all three already profiled in this series—have been outspoken politically, most footballers practice Salah’s more careful approach. His post about Gaza, then, is striking precisely because it is out of character for him. In fact, in October 2023, Salah released a video message about Israel’s war on Gaza. As THE ATHLETIC reported at the time, Salah “did not apportion blame for any of the bloodshed. His message was, simply, a call for humanitarian aid to be sent into Gaza, citing that all lives are sacred.”
At best, Salah’s theory of international affairs could be described as one that emphasizes the power of representation as a form of soft power. This is most visible in how he projects his Muslim faith. When celebrating goals (he has won the Premier League Golden Boot at least four times), Salah performs the sujūd (prostration). And as I pointed out above, political scientists show that his open expression of faith has helped challenge stereotypes and reduce Islamophobia, especially among Liverpool supporters and even rival fans. In this way, Salah demonstrates that international influence does not always travel through statements or speeches, but through the everyday symbolism of being unapologetically visible.
Still, those who imagine Salah as a representative of pan-Africanist, Arab, or Global South aspirations may be disappointed. He has never used his platform to address Africa’s marginalization within football governance or the continent’s lopsided representation at global tournaments. On this front, his silence contrasts sharply with that of other African and diaspora figures—his compatriots Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Elneny, or elsewhere Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, Patrick Vieira, and Frédéric Kanouté.
And yet, this is what makes his statement on Gaza so important. Precisely because Salah is cautious, precisely because he usually avoids politics, his willingness to risk speaking at all carries more weight. If Salah had a theory of international affairs, it would be a mainstream one: representation matters, religion can humanize, and visibility shifts perceptions. But his intervention on Gaza shows something more—that sometimes, even the most careful global icons recognize that silence itself is political.
Sean Jacobs is a professor and director of the Graduate Program in International affairs at The New School.