This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
On August 19, 2019, Mohamed Salah, a star player for Liverpool and Egypt, addressed the controversy surrounding his national teammate Amr Warda in a CNN interview.
Warda was kicked out of Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations squad in June after multiple claims of sexual misconduct surfaced online, but he was later reinstated at the request of his teammates.
Salah denied having a role in Warda's reinstatement, stating, "What I meant to say is that (sexual harassment) happened before and is happening now. He has to get treatment or rehabilitation just to make sure that it is not going to happen again," in the CNN interview.
However, some Egyptians have disputed Salah's claim, with one Twitter user accusing him of lying and having a direct role in bringing Warda back to the team.
Former national goalkeeper Ahmed Shobair also weighed in on the debate, suggesting that Salah's tweets were written in coordination with the federation's former chairman Hany Abou Rida.
The controversy has sparked a heated discussion on social media, with some Egyptians criticizing Salah's handling of the scandal and accusing him of trying to save his image in the West.
