Samuel Eto'o, Rashidi Yekini and AFCON's greatest goalscorers

In the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, there have been remarkable finishers aplenty gracing the competition’s corridors of glory. Below, we celebrate some of those who have excelled during the nearly six decades the Afcon has been contested.

SAMUEL ETO’O FILS


The Afcon’s all-time topscorer, Eto’o struck 18 times, taking some six editions to do so. Twice he finished topscorer, notching a personal competition’s best of five goals on both occasions (2006 and 2008). With the multiple Uefa Champions League winner calling time on his Cameroon career earlier this year, however, there might be no further opportunity for Eto’o, 33, to add to his numbers. Looking at the standings, though, it isn’t as if he’d be overtaken anytime soon.


LAURENT POKOU


Pokou’s longstanding record of 14 goals – set at only the Nations Cups of 1968 and 1970, both of which had him claim the coveted Golden Boot – was surpassed by Eto’o at the 2008 Afcon. Still, Pokou remains one of African football’s bonafide legends, given that it took all of 38 years for him to be toppled off his perch atop the charts.


RASHIDI YEKINI

Yekini, a man who died in May 2012 with the satisfaction of knowing that none had outscored him in Nigerian colours, is also the Super Eagles’ most prolific in Nations Cup history. Just one strike behind Pokou, Yekini also got crowned goal-king twice. Those award-winning nine goals scored in the 1992 and 1996 tournaments were topped with another quartet spread across other editions. Twenty-four games, thirteen goals. Not a bad return, eh?


HASSAN EL-SHAZLY


El-Shazly mightn’t be the most recognizable name many would identify among the lot who have featured in Egypt’s seven-star-studded Afcon annals, but none of his more renowned countrymen have scored as much as he has in the competition: a round dozen in all.


MULAMBA NDAYE


Ndaye, on the scorers’ ladder, ranks a goal less than the likes of Didier Drogba, Hossam Hassan and Patrick Mboma, while he is also tied with four others on ten. For being the highest scorer at any single edition of the Afcon (nine, in 1974), however, Ndaye’s place on this list of greats is well-earned, especially considering the fact that those strikes helped push his native Zaire (now DR Congo) all the way to the title that year. It is, indeed, a feat truly worth hailing.