Egyptian international Mohamed Salah has been nominated for the BBC World Sports Personality of the Year 2025 award, despite his ongoing crisis with Liverpool FC.
Salah and Liverpool coach Arne Slot have butt heads recently following recent public statements from Liverpool’s star player protesting his being benched for the last three English Premier League matches.
Even with the escalating crisis—and Slot’s subsequent reaction, which included excluding Salah from the squad for the Champions League match against Inter Milan for disciplinary reasons—Salah was still nominated for the award.
The BBC announced a shortlist of six nominees for the 2025 World Sports Personality award and opened the door for a public vote on its official website.
Salah is competing against the following nominees: Mariuma Caldentey (footballer), Terence Crawford (boxer), Armand Duplantis (pole vaulter), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (sprinter/hurdler), and Shohei Ohtani (baseball player).
“The Egyptian star led Liverpool to the English Premier League title while breaking a string of records, becoming the first player in history to achieve the Golden Boot, Best Playmaker, and Player of the Season awards in a single season,” the BBC wrote.
“Salah sparked controversy with his recent statements about feeling the club had ‘thrown him under the bus’ and that his relationship with the manager had collapsed,” the network wrote regarding the current crisis.
These statements ultimately led to the 33-year-old being excluded from the Liverpool squad against Inter in the Champions League for disciplinary reasons.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
