Salah scores against his FA

– Mohamed Salah (above) has emerged the victor in his bitter dispute with the Egypt Football Association as the Pharaohs make their return after exiting the World Cup winless.

The Liverpool striker had clashed with his country’s FA over image rights violations and personal security.

The stand-off escalated last month when Salah and his lawyer accused the federation of failing to respond to a list of demands involving the player’s “well-being while with the national team, and assurances that the image rights violations wouldn’t happen again”.

This provoked an angry rebuttal with the FA saying it would not “favour one player over another”.

Salah hit back with a pair of Facebook videos, insisting he was asking for better security for the whole squad at team hotels.

Confirmation that peace had been restored came when the FA published photographs this week of Egyptian President Hani Abou Rida and Salah side-by-side.

Rida attended a training camp in Alexandria ahead of the Pharaohs’ first outing since crashing out of the World Cup after losing all three first-round matches.

They face Niger today to kick off their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign.

At the World Cup, Salah was reportedly left unhappy after he was made to appear with Chechen strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov at Egypt’s training ground.

An earlier disagreement involved his image being used by the team’s main sponsor, telecoms firm WE, when he already had a contract with rival company Vodafone. –

Cairo