In addition to winning the Africa Cup of Nations, there are also several individual awards to be claimed during the tournament. One of the most coveted is the Golden Boot, awarded to the player who scores the most goals. There’s also the long-standing battle to become the all-time top scorer in AFCON history. On this page, you can read who currently holds that record and find an overview of all top scorers from past tournaments.
All-Time Top Scorer
The all-time top scorer of AFCON is Samuel Eto’o, with 18 goals. He scored these across 29 matches in six different tournaments. It will likely take a while before anyone surpasses Eto’o’s record, because the closest active player is André Ayew, who sits in 11th place with 10 goals. However, Ayew will not have the chance to close the gap this time, as Ghana failed to qualify for this year’s tournament.
| # | Player | Country | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Samuel Eto’o |  Cameroon | 29 | 18 |
| 2. | Laurent Pokou |  Ivory Coast | 13 | 14 |
| 3. | Rashidi Yekini |  Nigeria | 24 | 13 |
| 4. | Hassan El-Shazly |  Egypt | 10 | 12 |
| 5. | Didier Drogba | Ivory Coast | 24 | 11 |
| 6. | Hossam Hassan | Egypt | 21 | 11 |
| 7. | Patrick Mboma | Cameroon | 17 | 11 |
| 8. | Kalusha Bwalya |  Zambia | 23 | 10 |
| 9. | Joël Tiéhi | Ivory Coast | 15 | 10 |
| 10. | Santos |  Tunisia | 12 | 10 |
| 11. | André Ayew |  Ghana | 36 | 10 |
| 12. | Ndaye Mulamba |  DR Congo | 9 | 10 |
| 13. | Sadio Mané |  Senegal | 22 | 9 |
| 14. | Vincent Aboubakar | Cameroon | 16 | 9 |
| 15. | Abdoulaye Traoré | Ivory Coast | 22 | 9 |
| 16. | Manucho |  Angola | 14 | 9 |
| 17. | Asamoah Gyan | Ghana | 31 | 8 |
| 18. | Ahmed Hassan | Egypt | 32 | 8 |
| 19. | Pascal Feindouno |  Guinea | 13 | 8 |
| 20. | Seydou Keita |  Mali | 31 | 8 |
Top Scorers per AFCON
Below you will find the top scorer from each edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. The top scorer of AFCON 2025 has yet to be determined.
| Year | Player | Country | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Ad-Diba | Egypt | 5 |
| 1959 | Mahmoud El-Gohary | Egypt | 3 |
| 1962 | Badawi Abdel Fattah | Egypt | 3 |
| Mengistu Worku |  Ethiopia | 3 | |
| 1963 | Hassan El-Shazly | Egypt | 6 |
| 1965 | Ben Acheampong | Ghana | 3 |
| Osei Kofi | Ghana | 3 | |
| Eustache Mangle | Ivory Coast | 3 | |
| 1968 | Laurent Pokou | Ivory Coast | 6 |
| 1970 | Laurent Pokou | Ivory Coast | 8 |
| 1972 | Salif Keita | Mali | 5 |
| 1974 | Ndaye Mulamba | DR Congo | 9 |
| 1976 | Mamadou Aliou Keita | Guinea | 4 |
| 1978 | Segun Odegbami | Nigeria | 3 |
| Opoku Afriyie | Ghana | 3 | |
| Phillip Omondi |  Uganda | 3 | |
| 1980 | Segun Odegbami | Nigeria | 3 |
| Khalid El Bied |  Morocco | 3 | |
| 1982 | George Alhassan | Ghana | 4 |
| 1984 | Taher Abouzaid | Egypt | 4 |
| 1986 | Roger Milla | Cameroon | 4 |
| 1988 | Roger Milla | Cameroon | 2 |
| Lakhdar Belloumi |  Algeria | 2 | |
| Gamal Abdelhamid | Egypt | 2 | |
| Abdoulaye Traoré | Ivory Coast | 2 | |
| 1990 | Djamel Menad | Algeria | 4 |
| 1992 | Rashidi Yekini | Nigeria | 4 |
| 1994 | Rashidi Yekini | Nigeria | 5 |
| 1996 | Kalusha Bwalya | Zambia | 5 |
| 1998 | Hossam Hassan | Egypt | 7 |
| Benni McCarthy |  South Africa | 7 | |
| 2000 | Shaun Bartlett | South Africa | 5 |
| 2002 | Julius Aghahowa | Nigeria | 3 |
| Salomon Olembé | Cameroon | 3 | |
| Patrick Mboma | Cameroon | 3 | |
| 2004 | Santos | Tunisia | 4 |
| Patrick Mboma | Cameroon | 4 | |
| Frédéric Kanouté | Mali | 4 | |
| Jay-Jay Okocha | Nigeria | 4 | |
| 2006 | Samuel Eto’o | Cameroon | 5 |
| 2008 | Samuel Eto’o | Cameroon | 5 |
| 2010 | Mohamed Nagy | Egypt | 5 |
| 2012 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang |  Gabon | 3 |
| Emmanuel Mayuka | Zambia | 3 | |
| Cheick Diabaté | Mali | 3 | |
| Christopher Katongo | Zambia | 3 | |
| Manucho | Angola | 3 | |
| Didier Drogba | Ivory Coast | 3 | |
| Houssine Kharja | Tunisia | 3 | |
| 2013 | Mubarak Wakaso | Ghana | 4 |
| Emmanuel Emenike | Nigeria | 4 | |
| 2015 | André Ayew | Ghana | 3 |
| Dieumerci Mbokani | DR Congo | 3 | |
| Javier Balboa |  Equatorial Guinea | 3 | |
| Thievy Bifouma |  Congo | 3 | |
| Ahmed Akaichi | Tunisia | 3 | |
| 2017 | Junior Kabananga | DR Congo | 3 |
| 2019 | Odion Ighalo | Nigeria | 5 |
| 2021 | Vincent Aboubakar | Cameroon | 8 |
| 2023 | Emilio Nsue | Equatorial Guinea | 5 |
| 2025 | ? | ? | ? |