Mohamed Salah is 45 minutes away from doing something no Egyptian footballer has ever done: lead the Pharaohs into a World Cup quarterfinal. And in a twist that would have seemed absurd even five years ago, the crypto market is watching just as closely as the football fans.
Egypt’s stunning run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has done more than electrify a nation of over 100 million people. It has sent trading volume for the $SALAH memecoin spiking, turning a niche fan token into one of the most talked-about speculative plays of the summer.
The run that nobody predicted
Look, Egypt has technically been to the World Cup before. Eight times, in fact. But “been to” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, because the Pharaohs had never won a single World Cup match entering the 2026 tournament.
That changed on June 21, when Egypt beat New Zealand 3-1 in their group opener. Salah scored and added an assist, doing Salah things. The win was historic in the most literal sense of the word: Egypt’s first-ever group stage victory at a World Cup.
