AFCON 2023 top scorers: Nsue wins golden boot as Ivory Coast defeat Nigeria to lift trophy

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 11 Feb 2024 22:22 GMT
• 9 min read

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations is over after hosts Ivory Coast defeated Nigeria in the final to lift the trophy, while Equatorial Guinea star Emilio Nsue won the tournament Golden Boot with a five-goal haul.

Sebastien Haller scored the winner for Ivory Coast as they came from behind, with Nigeria taking the lead through captain William Troost-Ekong before Franck Kessie equalised.

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 were 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 have missed club fixtures for AFCON.

There has been a great variety of goal-scorers with at least 17 players scoring more than once. Senegal's Lamine Camara was the only AFCON player to score more than one goal 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. He was unable to prevent a 1-0 defeat to Guinea in the Round of 16, however.

He currently leads the AFCON top goal-scorer race, with five goals.

Gelson Dala (Angola) and Mostafa Mohamed (Egypt) are second, having both scored four goals during the tournament.

Baghdad Bounedjah (Algeria), Mabululu (Angola), Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), Lassine Sinayoko (Mali), Ademola Lookman (Nigeria) and Mohamed Bayo (Guinea) have all scored three goals at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Mohammed Kudus, Jordan Ayew and Yoanne Wissa are among the players with two goals to their name.

Only players from Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast and DR Congo were able to add to their goals tally in the AFCON semi-finals, with Bafana Bafana's Teboho Mokoena taking his to two but being on the losing side as Nigeria prevailed on penalties. Later that day, hosts Ivory Coast defeated DR Congo thanks to Haller's first goal of the tournament.

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 in the opening game, while Osimhen also netted a MD1 equaliser, although his was less dramatic as it came in the 38th minute against Equatorial Guinea.

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 in MD1 too.

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 more than once with his goal over Burkina Faso, which sealed top spot in Group D for his nation.

The following day of action saw a host of low-scoring affairs, with three of the four matches ending in goalless draws, while Hakim Ziyech scored the winner for Morocco over Zambia with the only goal of the day.

The round of 16 kicked off in peak AFCON style with Angola having a man sent off after 17 minutes against Namibia only for their opponents to also receive a red card in the 40th minute. Angola proceeded to hang three on the Southwest Africans, with Gelson Dala taking his tournament tally to four with a brace, while Mabululu scored again to reach three.

Later that same day, former Premier League winger Ademola Lookman scored his first two goals of the tournament as Nigeria overcame Cameroon 2-0, with Andre Onana again having been benched.

On January 29, Mohamed Bayo scored a 98th-minute winner for Guinea to seal their place in the quarter-final, while Mostafa Mohamed netted his fourth goal of the tournament as Egypt were knocked out in a crazy penalty shootout by DR Congo.

The following day, Ryan Mendes notched his second strike of the competition to help Cape Verde advance past Mauritania in the battle of the surprise packages.

Sadio Mane followed ex-Liverpool teammate Mo Salah in getting knocked out prematurely on penalties when his Senegal side were defeated by hosts Ivory Coast in a dramatic shootout after Habib Diallo and Franck Kessie had cancelled each other out in regular time.

On January, 30, Mali knocked out Burkina Faso, with Lassine Sinayoko and Bertrand Traore both taking their tournament tally up to three goals, but the Villa man and his teammates will be heading home.

Later that day, the trend of favourites bowing out prematurely continued, with South Africa knocking out World Cup semi-finalists Morocco. Strikes from Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena proved crucial as the North Africans buckled under pressure. PSG's Achraf Hakimi blasted a penalty off the crossbar and Man Utd's Sofyan Amrabat got sent off late in the game.

The quarter-finals got underway with Nigeria beating surprise package Angola thanks to Ademola Lookman's third goal of the tournament. Later on February 2, DR Congo brushed Guinea 3-1 aside, thanks to strikes from former Newcastle defender Chancel Mbemba, ex-West Ham full-back Arthur Masuaka and Yoanne Wissa, who netted his second of the competition. Mohamed Bayo's third AFCON goal was a mere consolation.

Ivory Coast booked their place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 extra-time win over Mali, courtesy of a 122nd-minute winner from Oumar Diakite, while South Africa beat Cape Verde on penalties in the final quarter-final.

In the semi finals, Nigeria defeated South Africa on penalties while Haller scored the only goal as Ivory Coast progressed to the final against DR Congo.

South Africa won the third-place playoff on penalties against DR Congo but it was Ivory Coast who emerged victorious on home turf, winning their third AFCON title.

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.