The thrilling race for the Golden Boot at Afcon 2023

Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar currently holds the accolade, having scored eight goals in the 2021 tournament.

The question now looms: Who will surpass Aboubakar’s impressive tally?

5 – Emilio Nsue (Equatorial Guinea)

The 34-year-old CF Intercity forward showed his ruthlessness on Thursday, January 18 after scoring a hat-trick in Equatorial Guinea’s 4-2 win against Guinea-Bissau in Group A’s matchday two.

The attacker added two more goals as his team defied the odds to beat Ivory Coast 4-0 on matchday 3.

4 – Mostafa Mohamed (Egypt)

The Egypt striker has now scored two goals in as many Group B matches for the Pharaohs. He added a third as the Pharaohs drew 2-2 with Cape Verde to force their way into the Round of 16.

Mohamed grabbed his fourth goal of the tournament when Egypt drew 1-1 with DR Congo on the Last-16 but went on to lose on penalty shootouts.

4 – Gelson Dala (Angola)

Dala grabbed a brace against Mauritania as Angola won 3-2 in this thrilling match.

The Angola marksman struck another brace in the 3-0 victory over Namibia in the Round of 16.

3 – Cristovao ‘Mabululu’ Paciencia (Angola)

After scoring against Algeria, Mabululu was on target in the final Group D match against Burkina Faso as his team won 2-0 to top the pool and advance to the next phase.

He was back again with a goal in the 3-0 Round of 16 win over Namibia.

3 – Baghdad Bounedjah (Algeria)

The experienced forward first struck in the 1-1 draw with Angola on January 15, before grabbing a brace to dramatically salvage a point for Algeria against Burkina Faso on January 20.

2 – Mohamed Bayo (Guinea)

After first scoring in the Group C 1-1 draw with Cameroon, Bayo went on to grab his second goal of the tournament against Equatorial Guinea in the Round of 16.

2 – Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)

The Atalanta man scored in either half as his brace sunk Cameroon 2-0 to send Nigeria into the Last-16.

2 – Themba Zwane (South Africa)

The Mamelodi Sundowns forward scored a brace as Bafana Bafana thumped Namibia 4-0 on January 21.

1 – Over 50 players have a solitary goal

Some of the biggest names in African football, like Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah, Achraf Hakimi, Victor Osimhen, Percy Tau and Hakim Ziyech all have a single strike to their names.