Africa Cup of Nations: who is the competition top scorer? Full list

The covid-delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations has reached the quarter-final stage in Cameroon with defending champions Algeria already out of the running. The host nation are still in contention, with the final to be staged at the Paul Biya Stadium in Yaoundé on 6 February.

Senegal, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon were the bookies’ pre-tournament favourites to lift the trophy but only two of those side remain with the competition throwing up some huge shocks in the last 16.

In terms of goal scorers, the Africa Cup of Nations is showcasing some of the finest in world football. Egypt's Mo Salah was the overwhelming favourite to end the tournament as top scorer despite Sébastian Haller being in the form of his life, the Ivory Coast forward scoring 10 goals in the Champions League group stage for Ajax and becoming only the second player, after Cristiano Ronaldo, to find the net in every game of the opening round and the fastest in history to reach 10 goals in the competition. Salah has so far managed just the one goal while Haller - who was eliminated with Ivory Coast at the hands of Egypt - only found the net once in the group stage.

Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar – who scored the winning goal in the 2017 final – currently leads the scoring charts and will look to add to his haul of six when the hosts go up against Gambia in the first quarter-final on 29 January.

Behind Aboubakar, Karl Toko Ekambi is on three, the two Cameroonians the only active players left in the tournament with more than two goals to their name, which should serve to ensure that the hosts end the tournament with the top scorer among their ranks.  

Africa Cup of Nations top scorers

The likelihood of anyone matching Samuel Eto’o’s record in the competition is remote. The former Cameroon forward bagged 18 goals in Cup of Nations action, becoming the outright top scorer of all time in 2008 when he scored from the spot against Sudan to overtake the late Laurent Pokou, who was top scorer at both the 1968 and 1970 Cup of Nations for Ivory Coast, memorably bagging five in a single game against Egypt at the latter tournament.

Third in the all-time list is Rashidi Yekeni, Nigeria’s all-time leading goal scorer who enjoyed an eclectic career that included stints at Olympiacos, Sporting Gijón, Vitória Setúbal and FC Zürich. Yekeni was top scorer at the 1994 Cup of Nations as Nigeria were crowned champions and also holds the distinction of scoring Nigeria’s first-ever World Cup goal, against Bulgaria at USA 1994.

All-time leading Cup of Nations top scorers

Players to have scored 10 or more goals at the Africa Cup of Nations

1: Samuel Eto’o: Cameroon (18)

2: Laurent Pokou: Ivory Coast (14)

3: Rashidi Yekeni: Nigeria (13)

4: Hassan El-Shazly: Egypt (12)

5: Patrick Mboma: Cameroon; Hossam Hassan: Egypt; Didier Drogba: Ivory Coast (11)

6: Ndaye Mulamba: DRC; Joel Tiéhi: Ivory Coast: Mengitsu Worku: Ethiopia; Dos Santos: Tunisia; Kalusha Bwalya: Zambia (10)