Did Salah really admit surprise over AFCON penalty? Egypt issue firm response

AFCON 26 December 2025 at 20:42

Khaled Hegazy

News Editor

26.12.25 FT AFCON - Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt

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South Africa

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The Egyptian national team have officially rejected claims made by South Africa head coach Hugo Broos who alleged that Mohamed Salah admitted surprise at being awarded the penalty that decided Egypt’s 1-0 victory at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Salah scored the only goal of the match from the spot during Friday’s Group A clash in Agadir sealing Egypt’s qualification for the AFCON round of 16 and handing South Africa damaging defeat.

What Hugo Broos claimed?

Speaking to the media after the match, Broos insisted that the Liverpool forward personally questioned the legitimacy of the penalty in brief post-match exchange.

“Even Mo Salah said to me after the game that he was surprised that that was penalty,” Broos told reporters.

The South Africa coach criticised two key refereeing decision describing Egypt’s penalty as “ridiculous” and claiming his side were denied clear spot-kick late on after Yasser Ibrahim blocked shot with his arm inside the box.

Despite a VAR review, the referee ruled Ibrahim’s arm was in natural supporting position.

Egypt issue firm rebuttal

Egypt’s coaching staff quickly moved to shut down Broos’ version of events insisting no such conversation took place.

Mohamed Morad, the Pharaohs’ media coordinator addressed the issue via social media:

“Mohamed Salah did not speak with the South Africa coach about any matters related to the match. They exchanged greetings only and anything else being said is completely untrue.”

While beIN SPORTS footage showed Salah briefly speaking with Broos after full-time, no audio was released to confirm the content of the exchange.

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AFCON - Africa Cup of Nations