While most of them have featured in Africa’s elite competition, the AFCON, for their respective countries, who are the top scorers ever in the history of the tournament?
Here are the top seven (7) all time goalscorers in the history of AFCON:
7. Didier Drogba (11 goals) – Ivory Coast
African legend Drogba may not have lifted the AFCON title with his beloved country, Ivory Coast, but he did make his presence felt in the competition in terms of goals.
2006 and 2008 remain Drogba’s most productive outings in terms of goals, scoring three (3) goals in each of the editions.
He remains Ivory Coast’s top scorer with 65 goals, 11 of them were scored in the AFCON.
6. Hossam Hassan (11 goals) – Egypt
A three-time AFCON winner with the Pharaohs, Al Ahly legend, Hossam Hassan produced the goods in the continent for club and country.
Most of the goals that got Hassan on the list of the all time AFCON top scorers came in 1998 when he shared the golden boot with South Africa’s Benni McCarthy. Both African legends scored seven (7) goals each at the tournament hosted by Burkina Faso.
5. Patrick Mboma (11 goals) – Cameroon
Renowned for his ferocious left foot, the Indomitable Cameroonian legend Patrick Mboma comes in at number five on the list of the Africa Cup of Nations all time top scorers.
Mboma is a two-time AFCON winner with Cameroon, following wins in that painful 2000 win over Nigeria in Lagos and in 2002.
He also finished as joint top scorer in the 2002 and 2004 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.
4. Hassan El Shazly ( 12 goals) – Egypt
Hassan El-Shazly was the star of the 1963 edition of the AFCON, when he netted six goals in the competition.
The second Egyptian on this list, El-Shazly remains the Egptian with the most goals ever in AFCON history.
3. Rashidi Yekini (13 goals) – Nigeria
Nigeria’s greatest ever net burster, Rashidi Yekini, makes his exalted entrance on Top 3 AFCON all time top scorers list.
In just three editions of the AFCON, Yekini netted 13 goals for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
After missing out of the title in 1990 and 1992, Yekini inspired Nigeria to the 1994 AFCON title, coming home with the tournament’s MVP award.
2. Laurent Pokou – (14 goals)
In just eight matches at the AFCON, Laurent Pokou found the back of the net 14 times for Ivory Coast. Nicknamed ‘Asmara’, the lethal finisher held the record for most goals scored in AFCON history before it was broken in 2008.
Pokou was a menace to defenders at the AFCON but his goals were not enough to lead the Ivory Coast to AFCON glory during his devastating prime despite being second on the list of the all time AFCON top scorers.
He is just one of three players to score eight (8) goals in a single AFCON tournament. Pokou netted eight times in the 1970 edition. He is also the scorer of the most goals in a single match, netting five (5) against Ethiopia in the group stages.
1. Samuel Eto’o (18 goals) – Cameroon
Standing head and shoulders above everywhere else is the four-time Africa Footballer of the Year award winner, Samuel Eto’o Fils of Cameroon.
Eto’o became the all-time leading scorer in AFCON in the 2008 edition when he leapfrogged Ivorian legend, Pokou.
He was joint top scorer in the 2006 edition, took the golden boot again two years later en-route scattering Pokou’s record. He is also a two-time winner of the AFCON with Cameroon.
