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Egypt’s Mohamed El-Shenawy chose to reject his man-of-the-match award following the World Cup Group A opener against Uruguay due to it being sponsored by Budweiser.
El-Shenawy produced a series of reaction saves to deny the Uruguay front-line of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez before Jose Gimenez’s 89th-minute winner finally broke Egypt’s resistance.
And despite the defeat, El-Shenawy’s performance was deemed enough to clinch MOTM honours from Egypt’s Group A opener at the Ekaterinburg Arena.
But when presented with the award post-match the El Ahly stopper opted not to collect MOTM due to the sponsorship of beer giants Budweiser.
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El-Shenawy is a Muslim and his faith generally forbids the consumption of alcoholic beverages so chose to reject the award which is shaped into a red goblet.
Budweiser is one of the main sponsors for the 2018 World Cup in Russia having signed a deal with FIFA as the official alcohol supplier to the tournament.
Other star names at the World Cup are also Muslims including France’s Paul Pogba, Germany’s Mesut Ozil and El-Shenawy’s Egypt team-mate Mohamed Salah.
