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TEHRAN, June 23 - Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov has granted honorary citizenship to striker Mohamed Salah at a banquet held to say goodbye to Egypt's World Cup squad.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The Pharaohs, as the Egyptian squad is known, adopted the Russian region's capital, Grozny, as their base for the tournament.
The Friday night banquet was held at Kadyrov's presidential palace in Grozny, and the Chechen leader posed with Salah for pictures while pinning a medal on his chest.
"It is a deserved honor," Kadyrov wrote on Russian social media, adding that Salah's presence had driven "unprecedented interest in football." He said he now wants Egypt to return to Chechnya after the World Cup for a friendly against local club Akhmat Grozny, which is named after Kadyrov's father, who was assassinated in 2004.
It was the third time in two weeks that the Chechen leader, a Moscow-backed former rebel and a keen sports fan, has shown his admiration for 26-year-old Liverpool striker Salah.
Kadyrov attended Egypt's first practice session in Grozny on June 10. After watching for about 30 minutes, he drove to the squad's nearby hotel where Salah, nursing a shoulder injury, was relaxing in his room. The Chechen leader asked Salah to accompany him back to the stadium, where the two later posed for photos and greeted the 5,000 fans who had tickets to watch Egypt practice.
According to Egypt's football federation, the Chechen leadership sent a large cake to the team hotel on June 15 to mark Salah's 26th birthday, which coincided with the Pharaohs' 1-0 loss to Uruguay in their opening match of this World Cup, their first in 28 years.
Kadyrov's habit of hosting celebrities such as Salah appears designed to associate him more with sports than his track record as an authoritarian leader. He lured Maradona, Luis Figo and Steve McManaman to Grozny in 2011 for an exhibition game marking the opening of a new 30,000 seat stadium.
Last year, Brazil's Ronaldinho posted photos of himself with Kadyrov during a visit to Grozny, and boxer Floyd Mayweather lavishly praised Kadyrov while they were being filmed together in the Chechen capital.
Source: AP
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