Footballer Mohamed Salah Rejects Luxury Villa Gift, Suggests Donation to Hometown Instead

Liverpool winger and Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah declined a luxury villa offered to him by Zamalek’s former president as a gift for his pivotal role in sending Egypt to the 2018 World Cup.

Salah, 25, scored both goals in a 2-1 win by the Pharaohs over Congo earlier this month. His winning penalty goal in the final minute of the match qualified Egypt to play in the World Cup for the first time since 1990 and made Salah a local hero to many fans.

Gift Offer

According to Yallakora.com, Mamdouh Abbas, who used to run Zamalek’s football club, offered the villa to the winger as a show of gratitude for the win.

Sources at the football website say Salah respectfully declined the offer; he encouraged Abbas to donate the money to his hometown, Nagrig in Gharbiya, a region around 150km from Cairo, instead.

The winger is already a local hero in his village- Gharbiya’s governor even renamed his former school the Mohamed Salah Industrial High School in his honour.

Prior to his win over Congo, Salah signed with British club Liverpool from Roma for a record-breaking £37 million ($US 48.51 million). He is currently the team’s top scorer, and earned the title of Player of the Month in addition to Goal of the Month twice since August.