Simon Adingra of Ivory Coast celebrates his goal against Mali in an Africa Cup of Nations match at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake, Ivory Coast in February 3, 2024.
The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) crossed a historic landmark on Tuesday night during the Round of 16 match of this year’s competition between Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso played at the Marrakech Stadium in Marrakech, Morocco.
Cote d’Ivoire winger Amad Diallo scored the competition’s 2,000th goal when he opened the scoring for the Elephants in their 3-0 win over the Stallions on Tuesday night. The goal came in the 20th minute of the match and in the 32nd minute, Diallo accelerated the countdown to the next millennium of Afcon goals with an assist for Yan Diomande. Bazoumana Toure sealed the win for the defending champions with Cote d’Ivoire’s third in the 87th minute.
Egyptian player Raafat Attia scored the tournament’s first goal on February 10, 1957 against Sudan during the competition’s first match at Khartoum’s Municipal Stadium. Attia’s goal was also the first of Egypt’s 181 goals in the competition. The Pharoahs, who are also Afcon’s record winners with seven titles, have scored the most goals in the history of the competition.
Africa Cup of Nations' 68-year tournament history.
Three-time champions Cote d’Ivoire have conceded the most goals – 114 – but they also have legendary goal poachers and scoring records to brag about.
Laurent Pokou, who appeared for the Elephants at four Afcons (1968, 1970, 1974, and 1980), is the only player to score five goals in one Afcon match, a feat that earned him the nickname “Man of Asmara” following his quintuple against Ethiopia in a 6-1 win for Cote d’Ivoire at 1970 Afcon in Sudan.
Pokou, one of 17 players to have scored a hat-trick at Afcon, scored eight goals in that tournament, a figure that stood only four years as a tournament record for most of goals scored by a player in a single edition of Afcon.
Mulamba Ndaye, playing for Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) at 1974 Afcon, scored nine goals in the tournament hosted in Egypt to snatch Pokou’s record for good as his country won the last of their two Afcon titles. Pokou also held the Afcon record for most goals scored (14) , until Samuel Eto’o overtook him at 2008 Afcon before ending his career with 18 goals. Still, Eto’o needs more matches (29) to own a record that Pokou claimed with just 14 matches.
Still, Pokou’s name is associated with a tournament scoring record that could tumble at 2025 Afcon. The official match ball for 2023 Afcon, hosted by Cote d’Ivoire, was known as ‘Pokou’. ‘Pokou’ lived up to its christening, shaking the net 119 times, setting a tournament record for the most goals scored in a single Afcon tournament.
The 2025 Afcon is averaging 2.5 goals per match, meaning it is projected to end with 130 goals scored, hence setting a new record for most goals in an Afcon tournament.
Competition’s most prolific era
Still, in its 68-year history, Afcon has progressively evolved from a three-team competition in the first two editions of the tournament, to a 24-team event since 2019 Afcon. More teams meant more matches and more goals.
Yet, ranking Afcon tournaments in terms of goal averages, the classification presents the realisation that the competition’s most prolific era was its early years, when matches played and the number of teams competing were fewer. The 1962 Afcon , which featured four teams, produced 18 goals in four matches, translating to an average of 4.5 goals per game, an Afcon record.
Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara celebrates with the trophy alongside the players after winning the Africa Cup of Nations final against Nigeria at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara, Abidjan, Ivory Coast on February 11, 2024.
The next two editions of the tournament held after 1962 – 1963 Afcon and 1965 Afcon – featured six teams. The two tournaments produced 33 and 31 goals from eight matches respectively. From 1968 to 1990, Afcon was an eight-team tournament which witnessed its most productive editions in 1974 and 1976 when the competitions ended with 54 goals scored. The 12-team era of Afcon was short-lived, lasting only two tournaments, 1992 Afcon (34 goals in 20 games) and 1994 Afcon (44 goals in 20 games).
Afcon tournaments featured 16 teams between 1996 and 2017, highlighting an era which produced the competition’s lowest goal average (2002 Afcon) and its highest scoring rate since 1974 (2008 Afcon). The 2002 Afcon, hosted in Mali, is remembered for its mean defence. The tournament yielded only 48 goals in 32 games, representing an average of 1.5 goals per game.
Okocha’s historic goal
Ghana hosted Afcon 2008 and the tournament’s official match was the colourful and eccentrically-named Wawa Aba. It lived up to its flamboyance, hitting the net 99 times in 32 games, an Afcon record that stood until 102 goals were scored at Afcon 2019 when the competition became a 24-team tournament.
Remarkably, the progressive increment in the number of teams competing at Afcon has enabled the competition to reach its second millennium of goals faster than it took to witness its 1,000th goal.
Nigerian legend Augustine 'Jay Jay' Okocha scored the tournament’s 1,000th goal on January 31, 2004.
Nigerian legend Augustine 'Jay Jay' Okocha scored the tournament’s 1,000th goal on January 31, 2004 when he converted a penalty in Nigeria’s 4-0 over South Africa at 2004 Afcon held in Tunisia. His goal came 47 years after the tournament’s first goal. The 2,000th goal has arrived after a 21-year wait since Okocha’s goal.
CAF recognised Okocha’s historic goal by giving a special award. Ghana’s Mubarak Wakaso also received a special award from CAF when he scored the tournament’s 1,500th goal on February 5, 2015, netting Ghana’s second goal in the Black Stars’ 3-0 win over Equatorial Guinea.
The 500th goal of the tournament was scored by another Nigerian legend – Mudashiru “Muda” Babatunde Lawal. The goal came during Nigeria’s 3-1 loss to Cameroon in the final of 1984 Afcon.
Lawal is also one of only two players to score the first and last goal at an Afcon tournament, doing so in 1980 when the Super Eagles won the first of their three Afcon titles. The other player is Tunisia’s Ziad Jaziri, who did the same at 2004 Afcon when the Carthage Eagles became African champions for the first time.
Nevertheless, reviewing scoring records at Afcon means making peace with some hard truths. Kenya is a football Lilliputian with a giant ego, and Africans are not obsessed with trivialities.
Michael Olunga of Kenya celebrates scoring his team's first goal during their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations match against Tanzania at the Stadium in Cairo on June 27, 2019.
Harambee Stars have scored only 11 goals at Afcon, representing 0.55 per cent of goals scored in the history of the competition. The country’s top scorer at Afcon is Michael Olunga, with two goals, all coming against Tanzania in 2019.
As far as upholding Africans’ lack of punctilious record-keeping, CAF has buried a lot of statistical gems. The youngest goal scorer in the history of Afcon is not known. The dates of birth of some players who have competed at Afcon, particularly in the early years, remain unknown.
Tournament’s oldest goal scorer
As such, the Senegalese Ibrahim Mbaye is only recognised as the tournament’s youngest scorer in the 21st century. He was 17 years and 344 days old when he scored for Senegal against Sudan in Lions of Teranga’s 3-1 win over Sudan during their Round of 16 encounter on January 3.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan.
Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s coach at Afcon 2025, is the tournament’s oldest ever goal scorer. He was 39 years and 174 days old when he scored for Egypt against DR Congo in a 4–1 victory on February 3, 2006.
Also yet-to-be determined is the player who holds the record of the fastest goal scored at Afcon. The record is shared by seven players who are recognised to have scored within the first minute of a match at Afcon.
Yet, for all Afcon goal-scoring records that can be cited, there is none as unique as that held by Zambian goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene. He is the only goalkeeper in the history of the competition to have scored a goal, doing so when he converted a penalty against Nigeria at 2013 Afcon.
