Mohamed Salah Leads Celebrations of Egypt's First World Cup Victory in Vancouver
June 24, 2026 · Global
Mohamed Salah led Egypt to their first World Cup win, scoring in a 3-1 victory over New Zealand, sparking huge celebrations in Vancouver.
Mohamed Salah was lifted by his teammates in passionate celebrations on the streets of Vancouver after leading his country to their first World Cup victory. The Egyptian captain is a symbol of football in the Middle East, so it was only natural that he scored the goal that started the winning run in a tough Group G match against New Zealand. Having fallen behind to the lowest team in the competition through Finn Surman's 15th-minute opener, Mostafa Ziko equalized for Egypt on the hour mark before Salah scored the goal that turned the game around, with Trezeguet giving Egypt the lead eight minutes before full time. After the 3-1 win, Egypt's players were seen outside the stadium celebrating their success amidst the fans. Salah was seen in the crowd as one of his teammates held a speaker and the team sang a song in Arabic. Salah was then hoisted onto the shoulders of one of his teammates to cheers from Egyptian fans surrounding the celebration. The 34-year-old, revered in his homeland, has achieved everything at club level with Liverpool, and also has numerous individual honors throughout his illustrious career. Even though Egypt is the most successful country in Africa with seven Africa Cup of Nations titles, Salah has not experienced much happiness on the international stage. Egypt were African Cup runners-up twice during Salah's time in the team, and although he helped the country return to the World Cup after 28 years in 2018, they lost all three games on the global stage. Their appearance in Russia was seen as a missed opportunity to achieve a first World Cup win for Egypt, who were also winless in their two previous appearances in 1990 and 1934. However, by ending a 92-year wait in Vancouver, Salah finally got his moment in an Egypt shirt. Egypt now sit comfortably at the top of the group after also drawing against Belgium in their opener, and they are on the verge of progressing to the knockout stages for the first time in history. Their final group match will be against Iran on Saturday, June 27 in Seattle.