Mohamed Salah has had a major impact on the reduction of Islamophobia in Liverpool, a study has revealed.
The study, "Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes" was conducted by the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University, in the United States.
It found the number of hate crimes in the Merseyside area had fallen since Salah joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017.
Over the last two years there were 18.9 per cent fewer hate crimes than predicted, and a 53 per cent fall in anti-Muslim tweets among Liverpool fans.
"Overall, we interpret these results to support the hypothesis that Salah's arrival at Liverpool FC caused a decrease in extreme acts of bigotry," the study concludes.
Researchers analysed approximately 15 million tweets from football fans in the UK and 8,600 Liverpool fans were surveyed before and after Salah joined.
"Salah's arrival at Liverpool caused a decrease in extreme acts of bigotry"
"The survey experiment suggests that these results may be driven by increased familiarity with Islam," says the study.
"Our findings indicate that positive exposure to outgroup role models can reveal new information that humanises the outgroup writ large."
Salah has won the Golden Boot two seasons running at Liverpool and helped them to win the UEFA Champions League on Saturday with the opening goal in the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
See: Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? (Immigration Policy Lab)
