Building a transcultural idol in the global market

Abstract

The paper analyses the case of Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah, from Liverpool FC in England, as a successful example of building a transcultural idol within a scenario of the internationalization of football as business. We study his social medias through organic monitoring from 2021 to 2023, to understand how the athlete image would help overcoming cultural barriers. We established five categories (work, success, family, multiculturalism, and commercial legitimacy) around cultural signs, analysing the posts in the light of the concept of hyper-ritualization. We argue that the football player manages to build a multiculturalist image by overcoming national barriers. We argue that he does this by the positive image he builds on his social medias, allowing him transit through different cultural environments.