AFCON 2023 top scorers: Nsue runaway leader Salah's tournament in danger

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations has begun and Emilio Nsue is the runaway leader at the top of the scorers chart with five goals, while Mohammed Kudus has overtaken Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen with two goals.

The tournament was due to be held last summer, but rain issues in Ivory Coast ensured it was delayed until January 2024.

As a result, many top players in European leagues have been forced to leave their domestic clubs mid-season in order to compete for their countries. Premier

League stars Andre Onana, Mohamed Salah and Nicolas Jackson are among those who are set to miss club fixtures for AFCON.

Morocco headed into the tournament as favourites following their incredible run to the World Cup semi-finals in late 2022, but Ghana, Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and hosts Ivory Coast are also considered likely to lift the trophy on 11 February.

Although the tournament is no longer blessed with stars such as Jay-Jay Okocha and Didier Drogba, there are still some big names in action at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

As a result, the prize of ending the tournament as AFCON’s top goal-scorer is a highly coveted one.

So far, there has been a great variety of goal-scorers with only eleven players scoring more than once. The players with one goal to their name include Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah, Napoli marksman Victor Osimhen and Al-Nassr midfielder Seko Fofana.

Salah scored a 97th-minute penalty to earn Egypt a point against Mozambique, while Osimhen also netted an equaliser, although his was less dramatic as it came in the 38th minute against Equatorial Guinea. Salah's tournament, however, could already be over as the 31-year-old suffered an injury that has turned out worse than initially expected.

Ex-Lens captain Fofana scored the opening goal of the tournament as hosts Ivory Coast beat Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in their first game. Aston Villa's Bertrand Traore imitated Salah and scored a 96th-minute penalty to spare Burkina Faso's blushes against Mauritania. Senegal's Lamine Camara was the only AFCON player to score more than once on Matchday 1 of the group stage.

On Matchday 2, Nsue's hat-trick helped Equatorial Guinea to a 4-2 win over Guinea-Bissau and lifted him to the top of the Golden Boot standings. On Matchday 3, the Equatorial Guinea star extended his lead by another two goals during his country's humiliating 4-0 demolition of hosts Ivory Coast.

Algeria's Baghdad Bounedjah and Salah's team-mate Mostafa Mohamed have found the net three times so far, while West Ham's Mohammed Kudus and Crystal Palace's Jordan Ayew have scored twice.

Liverpool legend Sadio Mane got on the scoresheet in Senegal's 3-1 defeat of Andre Onana's Cameroon, while infamous Man Utd flop Bebe scored a stunning free-kick for Cape Verde in their 3-0 beatdown of Mozambique, with both goal-scorers helping their team to qualify for the knockouts.

Achraf Hakimi and Patson Daka both got off the mark on Sunday, 21 January, although neither could help their countries to victory. Jordan Ayew's aforementioned brace of penalties was not enough to save Chris Hughton's Ghana from embarrassment as they surrendered a 2-0 lead over Mozambique in stoppage time on January 22, leaving their chances of advancing hanging in the balance.

On the same day, a Salah-less Egypt thought they had beaten Cape Verde when Mostafa Mohamed scored his third of the tournament in the 93rd minute, but they celebrated too soon as Bryan Teixeira amazingly netted in the 99th minute to make it 2-2 in a game that had 14 minutes of stoppage time.

On January 23, Mane's Senegal and Cameroon, with Andre Onana surprisingly dropped, advanced from Group C, while Mauritania upset Algeria and bounced them from the tournament. Angola's Mabululu joined the list of players to have scored twice with his goal over Burkina Faso, which sealed top spot in Group D for his nation.

2023 AFCON top goal-scorers

Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar won the top scorer award in 2022 (following a delay to the 2021 edition) after he bagged eight goals in just seven games as his nation finished third.

© ProShots - Mohamed Salah AFCON tournament potentially ended prematurely

This year, he will be hoping to retain his crown but will face serious competition from a number of stars.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Victor Osimhen, Nicolas Jackson, Riyad Mahrez, Youssef En-Nesyri, Sébastien Haller, Inaki Williams, Mohammed Kudus and Hakim Ziyech are among the favourites to end 2023 AFCON as the top-scorer.

What are the AFCON Golden Boot tiebreaker rules?

If two or more players finish level on goals at the top of the standings, the Golden Boot goes to the player with the most assists.

Africa Cup of Nations all-time top goal-scorers

Cameroon legend Samuel Eto'o is the top goal-scorer in Africa Cup of Nations history with 18 strikes in the competition. The ex-Barcelona, Inter and Chelsea forward scored in all six of his AFCON tournament appearances, including five in both 2006 and 2008.

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba is also included in the top 10 list of all-time AFCON goal-scorers thanks to his 11 goals in the competition. He is not the highest-scoring Ivory Coast player in Africa Cup of Nations history, however. Legendary striker Laurent Pokou netted 14 times in the tournament - the second-most ever.

Africa Cup of Nation Golden Boot winners

Mengistu Worku (Ethiopia) and Badawi Abdel Fattah (Egypt) both scored three goals in 1962.

Eustache Mangle (Ivory Coast), Osei Kofi (Ghana) and Ben Acheampong Simmons (Ghana) each scored three goals in 1965.

Opoku Afriyie (Ghana), Phillip Omondi (Uganda) and Segun Odegbami (Nigeria) each scored three goals in 1978.

Segun Odegbami (Nigeria) and Khalid Labied (Morocco) both scored three goals in 1980.

Lakhdar Belloumi (Algeria), Abdoulaye Traoré (Ivory Coast), Roger Milla (Cameroon) and Gamal Abdelhamid (Egypt) each scored two goals in 1988.

Hossam Hassan (Egypt) and Benni McCarthy (South Africa) both scored seven goals in 1998.

Patrick M'Boma (Cameroon), Salomon Olembé (Cameroon) and Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria) each scored three goals in 2002.

Patrick M'Boma (Cameroon), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Frédéric Kanouté (Mali) and Francileudo Santos (Tunisia) each scored four goals in 2004.

Manucho (Angola), Houssine Kharja (Morocco), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Christopher Katongo (Zambia), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia) and Cheick Diabaté (Mali) all scored three goals in 2012.

Emmanuel Emenike (Nigeria) and Mubarak Wakaso (Ghana) both scored four goals in 2013.

Thievy Bifouma (Congo), André Ayew (Ghana), Dieumerci Mbokani (DR Congo), Ahmed Akaïchi (Tunisia) and Javier Balboa (Equatorial Guinea) all scored three goals in 2015.