AFCON has given us some of the most electrifying moments in football history. We’ve watched strikers carve their names into immortality with goals that sent entire nations into delirium. The tournament returns soon, and we’ll crown another top scorer when it’s all said and done.
Standing at the pinnacle of this competition requires more than just a hot streak over a few weeks.
The names etched at the top of the all-time scoring charts represent sustained excellence across multiple tournaments, moments of pure genius, and careers that defined what it means to be an African football legend.
So who are these players?
Let’s break down the seven greatest goal scorers in AFCON history, the players who turned the tournament into their personal stage.
7. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) – 11 Goals
When you think of Didier Drogba, your mind probably goes to Stamford Bridge, to Champions League nights, to that penalty in Munich. But Drogba was also a giant on the African stage, even if the trophy he desperately wanted always stayed just out of reach.
Drogba scored 11 goals across 21 AFCON appearances, giving him a solid 0.45 goals per game ratio.
Those numbers tell part of the story, but they don’t capture the weight he carried every time he pulled on that orange Ivory Coast shirt. He was the leader of what everyone called the Golden Generation, a team stacked with talent that should have dominated African football.
They came close, painfully close, finishing as runners-up in both 2006 and 2012. But the trophy never came.
Still, Drogba’s impact went beyond goals.
He was the presence, the warrior who fought through injuries and fatigue because his country needed him. His power in the air, his ability to hold up play, and his knack for scoring when it mattered most made him one of the most feared strikers the tournament has ever seen.
The fact that he never won it all only adds a tragic beauty to his AFCON legacy.
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6. Hossam Hassan (Egypt) – 11 Goals
Longevity and consistency define Hossam Hassan’s remarkable AFCON career. The man played in seven different tournaments, spanning over a decade and a half of African football.
That alone puts him in rare company, but Hassan did more than just show up. He delivered when Egypt needed him most.
Hassan scored 11 goals in 21 AFCON matches, a 0.52 per game average that came during some of Egypt’s most successful years.
He won three AFCON titles, helping cement Egypt’s status as the most successful nation in the tournament’s history. His understanding of the game, his positioning, and his ability to find space in crowded penalty areas made him a constant threat.
Beyond AFCON, Hassan remains Egypt’s all-time leading scorer with 69 international goals, a record that speaks to his sustained excellence at the highest level.
He was never the flashiest player on the pitch, but he was always effective. That kind of reliability is what championships are built on, and Hassan delivered it for years.
5. Patrick Mboma (Cameroon) – 11 Goals
Patrick Mboma played just 17 AFCON matches in his career. In those 17 games, he scored 11 goals. Do the math, and you get a ridiculous 0.65 goals per game, the kind of efficiency that separates good strikers from legendary ones.
Mboma was instrumental in Cameroon’s back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2002, arguably the peak years for the Indomitable Lions. He had everything you want in a tournament striker: pace, power, technical ability, and an ice-cold mentality in front of goal.
His hat-trick against Zimbabwe stands as one of the great individual performances in AFCON history, and his knockout round goals often came at the exact moments when Cameroon needed someone to step up.
What makes Mboma’s record even more impressive is that he achieved it in a relatively short AFCON career. He packed all that production into a handful of tournaments, leaving no doubt that when the stakes were highest, he was ready.
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4. Hassan El-Shazly (Egypt) – 12 Goals
The numbers here are almost unbelievable. Hassan El-Shazly played just eight AFCON matches in his career. He scored 12 goals. That’s an average of 1.50 goals per game, a ratio that nobody in AFCON history has ever matched.
El-Shazly’s entire AFCON career spanned the 1960s and early 1970s, a period when Egypt was establishing itself as a powerhouse in African football. He became the most clinical finisher the tournament has ever seen, someone who seemed to score every time he touched the ball in dangerous areas.
His record of scoring two hat-tricks in AFCON finals remains untouched to this day. Think about that for a second. Two hat-tricks. In finals.
The level of composure and quality required to do that is staggering. El-Shazly played in an era that doesn’t get as much attention now, but his numbers demand respect. He set a standard for efficiency that modern strikers can only dream of matching.
3. Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria) – 13 Goals
Rashidi Yekini is Nigerian football royalty. For the longest time, he was considered the greatest striker the Super Eagles ever produced, and his AFCON record backs that up. Thirteen goals in 20 matches, with a 1994 AFCON title to show for it, along with the Golden Boot from that tournament.
Yekini had this raw, almost primal energy when he played. He was powerful, direct, and absolutely relentless in his pursuit of goals. His celebration after scoring against Bulgaria in the 1994 World Cup became one of the most iconic images in African football, but his AFCON performances were just as important in building his legend.
What made Yekini special was his ability to score all kinds of goals. Headers, long-range strikes, tap-ins, he had everything in his arsenal.
He was the kind of striker who could drag his team through difficult matches purely through force of will. Nigeria’s 1994 AFCON triumph was built on the back of his goals, and his legacy as one of the tournament’s all-time greats remains secure.
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2. Laurent Pokou (Ivory Coast) – 14 Goals
Laurent Pokou might be the most underappreciated player on this entire list. He played in an era before widespread television coverage, before social media, before goals were replayed and analysed endlessly. But the man could flat-out score.
Pokou won the Golden Boot twice, in 1968 and 1970, and finished his AFCON career with 14 goals in just 12 matches.
That’s a 1.17 goals per game average, numbers that would make any modern striker jealous. His single-game record of five goals against Ethiopia in 1970 still stands as the most prolific individual performance in AFCON history. Five goals in one match. That’s complete and utter dominance.
Pokou combined technique, intelligence, and a natural goal-scoring instinct that was ahead of its time.
He was the kind of player who could change a game in 10 minutes, who could turn a tight match into a rout through sheer brilliance. Ivory Coast was building something special during his era, and Pokou was the centrepiece of it all.
1. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) – 18 Goals
There was never really any doubt about who would top this list. Samuel Eto’o is the greatest goal scorer in AFCON history, and the gap between him and everyone else is substantial.
Eighteen goals across six tournaments. Two AFCON titles in 2000 and 2002. Golden Boots in 2006 and 2008. Eto’o did it all, and he did it with a style and swagger that made him must-watch television every time Cameroon played.
What separated Eto’o from other great strikers was his completeness.
He had a blistering pace that left defenders scrambling. He had a technical ability that allowed him to create chances out of nothing. He had the finishing touch of an assassin, capable of beating goalkeepers from any angle.
And he had the mentality of a winner, someone who thrived under pressure and delivered when his country needed him most.
Eto’o’s AFCON career spanned over a decade, and he remained a consistent threat throughout. Even as he aged and his game evolved, he found ways to keep scoring. His intelligence and positioning became more important as his pace declined, but the goals kept coming.
Beyond the statistics, Eto’o represented something bigger. He was the face of African football during his prime, a player who succeeded at the highest levels in Europe while never forgetting where he came from. His commitment to the national team, his passion for AFCON, and his determination to keep representing Cameroon long after he had nothing left to prove made him a true legend of the game.
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The Standard They Set
These seven players represent the height of AFCON excellence. They scored in finals, in semifinals, in group stages when their teams desperately needed a spark. They carried the hopes of entire nations on their shoulders and delivered more often than not.
The next AFCON will produce its own heroes, its own goal-scoring exploits that will be remembered for years. But breaking into this exclusive club requires something special. It requires sustained excellence across multiple tournaments, the ability to perform under immense pressure, and the kind of clinical finishing that turns good teams into champions.
Samuel Eto’o sits alone at the top with 18 goals, a record that might stand for generations.
Behind him, a collection of legends who defined their eras and gave us moments that transcended sport. These are the men who made AFCON the spectacle it is today, the strikers who turned January and February into months where Africa stopped to watch its greatest players compete for continental glory.
