Liverpool are still buzzing with the excitement of tying Mohamed Salah down to a new contract, but the fresh terms won’t prevent one familiar problem. The club confirmed last week that Salah has put pen to paper on a new deal, which is understood to run until June 2027, ensuring another two years of output from the Egyptian.
Salah is enjoying his best ever campaign with Liverpool, with 32 goals and 23 assists in 46 games across all competitions so far. As well as lifting the Premier League title, he is set to win the Golden Boot, having already broken Thierry Henry’s record with his 45th goal involvement on the weekend.
The 32-year-old chose to stay in part due to the progress the team is making under Arne Slot’s management. “I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football,” he said. “It’s great, I had my best years here. I played eight years, hopefully it’s going to be 10.”
If they are to win more trophies in the 2025/26 season then Liverpool will have to overcome a familiar problem: the Africa Cup of Nations. The Reds are used to losing Salah – and previously Sadio Mane – every two years midway through the season as they head off to represent their country.
Salah missed five games last season after heading off to the Ivory Coast to play for Egypt. To make matters worse, he then picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty, which cost him a further seven matches for Liverpool, while he also struggled to rediscover his best form once back available.
Injuries cannot be helped, but AFCON is certain to provide a serious disruption next season because it has moved from its regular slot of January-February to December and January. Taking place in Morocco, it will run from December 21 until January 18, having been moved from this summer so it doesn’t clash with the inaugural edition of FIFA’s controversial expanded Club World Cup, which runs from June 15 and July 13 in the United States.
That isn’t an issue for many European leagues, which have a winter break, but could be problematic for Premier League clubs with African players. Egypt have been drawn in Group B and have fixtures scheduled against Zimbabwe on December 22, South Africa on Boxing Day and Angola in their final group game on December 29.
As the most successful team in AFCON history, with seven titles to their name, Egypt will expect to reach the latter stages of the tournament. The round-of-16 is scheduled to take place between January 3-6, the quarter-finals follow on January 9-10, the semi-finals on January 14, the third-place play-off on January 17 and the final is in Rabat on January 18.
The Premier League won’t release its 2025/26 fixtures until June 18, but the festive period is the busiest in the calendar, meaning Salah is certain to miss some important matches, depending on the schedule and Egypt’s success in Morocco. But using Liverpool’s schedule from this season as a guide, AFCON would overlap with eight games, including six in the Premier League.
AFCON 2025 dates
Egypt’s group games:
December 22 vs Zimbabwe
December 26 vs South Africa
December 29 vs Angola
Round of 16 – January 3-6
Quarter-finals – January 9-10
Semi-finals – January 14
Third-place play-off – January 17
Final – January 18
Liverpool’s 2024/25 fixtures to illustrate potential clash
Southampton (Carabao Cup, December 18), Tottenham (Premier League, December 22), Leicester (Premier League, December 26), West Ham (Premier League, December 29), Manchester United (Premier League, January 5), Tottenham (Carabao Cup, January 8), Accrington Stanley (FA Cup, January 11), Nottingham Forest (Premier League, January 14), Brentford (Premier League, January 18), Lille (Champions League, January 21)
That tally would rise to 10 once the preceding fixture is included for travel time to the tournament as well as a game after the AFCON final for time to return and potentially rest.
Liverpool have plenty of experience of dealing with AFCON absences over recent years and will know that they have to plan for its impact. Slot knows how important squad depth is and will instruct sporting director Richard Hughes and his team to bring in back-up in the summer transfer window, to ensure Salah’s absence doesn’t derail their 2025/25 season.
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