Mohamed El Shorbagy has made his name as one of the most gutsy and resilient squash players of the modern era. The three-time British Open Winner, and one-time World Open Champion has been one of the most dominant players on the circuit over the last decade. His name is synonymous with high-quality matches that have a street-fighter spirit allied with an all-round game of superb skill. But how much has he made out of squash?
Mohamed El Shorbagy is worth approximately $1million. Half of this has come through his numerous tournament wins. The other half has come through endorsements, racket sponsorships, and other financial relationships.
I will look at his many tournament wins and how much he has made out of each, as well as delve deeper into his other sources of income to try to paint the full picture.
Mohamed El Shorbagy – Net Worth Estimates
Mohamed El Shorbagy has an estimated net worth of $1-million, according to the celebstrendnow publication, which does its utmost to guess how much squash players make.
The key word in this equation is guess because the range they use is between $100k-$1m. The publication idolcelebs estimated that Mohamed El Shorbagy had earned in the region of $1-million-$10-million during his professional career.
Naturally, that is also a total guess, which clearly does not take into account the Egyptian star’s earning potential off the squash court.
A recent study conducted by Simply Hired determined that professional squash players earned in the region of $76 000 per year. That is less than most Chief Financial Officers, iOS Developers, Android Developers, Full Stack Developers and company directors.
By their estimation – and we aren’t quite sure how scientific it is – being a professional Head Coach, the Head of a Summer Program and a general coach can be just as lucrative.
Tournament Wins
Mohamed El Shorbagy is fast moving towards securing his legacy as one of the all-time squash greats. He is now close to the top ten list for all tournament wins and World Series wins.
Mohamed El Shorbagy has won eleven world series events during his career, which places at eight on the list, just ahead of James Willstrop and David Palmer. He has also lost six World Series finals. However, the era he has competed in does help boost his tournament earnings somewhat.
Even though he is now 28, he is among the biggest beneficiaries of the sacrifices that were made by the players who came before him. The likes of compatriots Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first World Squash Championship title in 2017, when he defeated his brother Marwan El Shorbagy in the final. The tournament purse that year was $325,000. Mohamed El Shorbagy walked away from that tournament with a cool $48,000.
Here is a video of Mohamed El Shorbagy reflecting on becoming World Champion:
Not a bad day at the office for the tournament’s number three seed, who beat the tournament’s number six seed. Mohamed El Shorbagy lost two World Squash Championship finals prior to that.
Both of those finals were lost to Ramy Ashour and both of them were in Qatar.
Mohamed El Shorbagy came off second best in 2012, when he had to settle for $ 30,000. Not a bad return for a losing finalist – in the squash context.
In 2014, Mohamed El Shorbagy actually had to settle for less ($28,500) as a losing finalist. Still wasn’t a bad payday though.
Mohamed El Shorbagy has appeared in three British Open finals during his career. He won the tournament in 2015 and 2016. In 2018 he succumbed to Colombia’s Miguel Ángel Rodríguez in a brutal showdown.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first British Open title, when he beat Frenchman Grégory Gaultier in the 2015 final. He bagged $23,625 for that victory.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his second British Open title, when he beat compatriot Ramy Ashour in the 2016 final – a tournament which in many ways felt like a changing of the guard in world squash. For those efforts he bagged $23,625.
Mohamed El Shorbagy had to settle for less when he lost in 2018 – which in itself was a sign that the balance of power was starting to shift in global squash.
Mohamed El Shorbagy conquered the Hong Kong Open three times during his career. His most recent victim was Ali Farag in 2017.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first Hong Kong Open championship, when he defeated Grégory Gaultier in the 2014 final. He entered that tournament as the second seed and walked away with a cool $23,625.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his second Hong Kong Open trophy, beating Cameron Pilley in the 2015 final. He won $23,625 for that victory too.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his second Tournament of Champions title in 2016, when he beat Nick Matthew in the final. Mohamed El Shorbagy took home $23,625 for that win.
The total tournament purse at the 2013 Qatar Classic was $150,000. Mohamed El Shorbagy won that tournament when he beat Nick Matthew in the final. His winnings were in the region of $23,625.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his second Qatar Classic, discarding of Grégory Gaultier in the 2015 final. He took home another $23,625 paycheck for that.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first US Open title in 2014, when he beat Amr Shabana in the final. For his successful campaign, Mohamed El Shorbagy collected $17,500. The total tournament turnout that year was $115,000.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his second US Open title in 2016, when he beat Nick Matthew in the final. The winner’s check for that effort was in the region of $23,625.
Mohamed El Shorbagy’s first final outing in Chicago was somewhat of a mess, after Nick Matthew dismissed him in straights at the 2015 Windy City Open. The Egyptian did earn $15,525 for his efforts though.
When Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first Windy City Open title in 2016, he beat Nick Matthew in straights. His winner’s check for that was $23,625.
In 2014, Mohamed El Shorbagy competed in the final at the El Gouna International in Egypt. He lost that final to Ramy Ashour and walked away from the tournament with $11,500.
Mohamed El Shorbagy’s second El Gouna International final appearance was in 2015. He lost to Ramy Ashour again and had to settle for $15,525.
Mohamed El Shorbagy won his first El Gouna International title, when he beat Grégory Gaultier in the 2016 final. For that, he took home $23,625.
Combined Total for tournament wins – $500,000
Racket Sponsor
In the main El Shorbagy has been associated with the TECNIFIBRE CARBOFLEX 125.
I estimate the total racket sponsorship income for Elshorbagy over the last ten years as $250,000
Endorsements
The Egyptian’s strings have been supplied by TECNIFIBRE DNAMX. His clothes are all TECNIFIBRE too. For a brief period, Mohamed El Shorbagy was the premier squash player in the world. They call him The Beast of Alexandria.
When you have that kind of status corporate relationships with brands like RED BULL, CHANNEL VAS, ROWE MOTOR OIL, SMOUHA CLUB and UWE tend to come with the territory.
We estimate his total income from endorsements to be $250,000.
The Future For Mohamed El Shorbagy
Mohamed El Shorbagy is one of those squash players who has probably come agonizingly ahead of his time. There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that squash might just be turning the corner, from a financial point of view but it is probably only the player who compete ten years from now will truly benefit.
The top male earner in 2018 made $278,000. The average professional tour player will make about $100,000 a year, and the vast majority of professionals much less than this. In comparison to some of the other global sports, squash is less lucrative.
In one of the more recent reports dealing with squash finances, the governing body of the sport, the PSA, has revealed that one thing is for certain. The pay gap between men and women has been reduced.
At the end of the last season, total compensation on the PSA World Tour eclipsed $6.4-million.
According to the PSA that was an 11 percent increase on the year before. Just five years ago, squash might not have been such an attractive career option, especially if you had tennis or golfing talents.
However, there are now signs that new, better opportunities might be opening up in the sport.
The next generation is likely to benefit from the sacrifices which have been made by those who came before them. There is also the ongoing campaign to have squash included at the Summer Olympics.
If that ever came to pass then it would certainly help raise the profile of the sport, which is what the Summer Games had always intended to do.
So, all the relevant stakeholders are clearly taking giant leaps in the right direction, even though there is so much catching up to do.
Total money available on the women’s tour last season was $2,599,000. That equated to an increase of a whopping 31 percent.
Total money available to men last season – was in the region of $3,820,000.
Squash authorities have gone out of their way to better promote the sport in recent years. More colorful arenas, bigger venues and better broadcast deals.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore that the aggressive campaign is starting to yield positive results, for both the men’s and women’s games.
The best male earner topped $278,231 in 2018 and that accounts for a 72 percent on three years earlier. More critically, perhaps, is that there is now more money to go around across the board.
The PSA reports that average earnings among men are up 37 percent, while average earnings among women are up 63 percent. Granted women have had to work their way up from a much lower base.