Salah makes history as Egypt's all-time top scorer in 5-0 rout of Malawi

A record ninety minutes in the making

Mohamed Salah wrote his name into Egyptian football history on Friday night, scoring twice in the closing stages of a 5-0 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying win over Malawi to become the Pharaohs' all-time top scorer. The captain's brace at Cairo International Stadium took him to 70 international goals in 123 appearances, moving him one clear of Hossam Hassan, whose record of 69 had stood as the benchmark for a generation.

Salah had waited patiently. Egypt were already three goals to the good by half-time, and the record looked as though it might have to wait. Then, in the 84th minute, Ibrahim Adel delivered a cross and Salah met it with a far-post header to draw level with Hassan. Five minutes into stoppage time, after substitute Hamza Abdelkarim was tripped by the Malawi goalkeeper, the 34-year-old converted the penalty himself to seal the record in style.

After the final whistle, Salah posted a photograph from the dressing room on Instagram, holding up a piece of paper marked simply "70". It was a quiet, personal celebration for a milestone that places him alone at the top of his country's scoring charts, ahead of a man who played for Egypt for two decades and only last week was dismissed as the national team's coach.

The night in Cairo

The evening had begun as the start of a new era. Ali Maher, appointed to replace Hassan, took charge for the first time, and his side wasted no time stamping their authority on the match. Nasser Maher opened the scoring after six minutes, Omar Marmoush doubled the lead four minutes later, and Mohamed Hany added a third in the 38th minute for a commanding half-time advantage.

Malawi, third in Group B before kick-off, could not find a way back. Egypt controlled possession and kept the visitors pinned in their own half for long stretches. The only question in the second half was whether the captain would get the goals his performance deserved, and the answer arrived in a dramatic final ten minutes.

Salah's first goal was a poacher's finish. Adel whipped in a cross that found the captain arriving at the far post, and the header left the goalkeeper with no chance. The stadium erupted as Salah grinned and pointed towards the crowd, with Adel and Ahmed Fatouh rushing over to embrace him.

The second was pure theatre. With the match already won, Abdelkarim was brought down in the area deep into added time, and Salah took responsibility himself. He took a deep breath, skipped to his right and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, a calm Panenka-style finish that sealed both the 5-0 scoreline and his place in the record books.

A new era under Ali Maher

The result was the perfect start for Maher, who inherited a squad still basking in a memorable summer. Egypt reached the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup, losing a controversial match against Argentina after Salah had powered them past Australia on penalties and scored in a 3-1 group win over New Zealand, the country's first ever World Cup finals victory.

That run raised expectations, and the manner of this victory suggests the Pharaohs intend to keep building. The early goals showed a team willing to attack from the first whistle, the clean sheet showed discipline without the ball, and the captain's late brace showed the side still revolves around its greatest player when the moment demands it.

Salah's own journey adds to the night's significance. The former Liverpool star joined Turkish club Trabzonspor in August, yet his international form has shown no sign of fading. Scoring at better than one goal every two games across 123 caps, he has turned a record many thought untouchable into his own.

What the record means

Hossam Hassan's 69 goals came across a career spanning more than twenty years with the national team, and his name has long been synonymous with Egyptian goalscoring. For Salah to pass him at 34, with international football still ahead of him, underlines the scale of the achievement and the consistency that has defined his career with the Pharaohs.

The record also arrives as Egyptian football looks forward rather than back. With a new coach in the dugout and a qualifying campaign gathering momentum, Salah's milestone feels less like the end of an era than a marker on a journey with major tournaments still ahead.

Egypt now sit top of Group B in qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations with seven points from three matches, three clear of Angola, who host South Sudan on Saturday. Malawi remain third on three points and will need a strong response when the campaign resumes.

The road to Pamoja 2027

The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted jointly by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda under the Pamoja banner, is the next major target for this Egypt side. Qualification is far from secured, but a 5-0 home win and a group lead after three matches is exactly the platform Maher would have wanted from his first game.

Elsewhere on a busy night of qualifying, Tunisia's difficult run continued with a 2-0 home defeat by Libya, Mali came from behind twice to beat Rwanda 3-2, and Morocco eased past Niger. None of those results carried the weight of what happened in Cairo.

For Salah, the night belonged to him alone. Seventy goals, one record, and a photograph holding up a piece of paper that said it all. Egypt's greatest ever goalscorer now has a number that is his alone, and the Pharaohs have a captain who delivers when history is on the line.