The African Cup of Nations is fast approaching. From December 21 to January 18, the 24 best nations on the continent will cross swords for a highly anticipated 35th edition. The opportunity for Achraf Hakimi’s Morocco, Sadio Mané’s Senegal, Franck Kessié’s Ivory Coast and Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria to achieve new exploits. Here is an overview of the main records of the competition.
Egypt, king of the continent
Despite recent decline, Egypt remains the undisputed king of Africa. From the top of their 7 titles, the Pharaohs contemplate the other African nations from afar, even if Cameroon came closer by winning its fifth trophy in 2017 to distance itself from Ghana, which completes the podium (4 titles).
Winner of the first two CANs, in 1957 and 1959, Egypt was a pioneering nation on the continent, performing regularly over the years. But it was at the dawn of the 21st century that the north-east African country reached its peak by achieving a fantastic treble (2006, 2008, 2010), unheard of in the history of the competition.
Also stopped three times on the last step (1962, 2017, 2021), Mohamed Salah’s nation reached 10 finals in total in the tournament, another record. To top it off, Egypt is also the team with the most participations in the AFCON, with 27 appearances.
The most successful nations:
1 – Egypt: 7 victories
2 – Cameroon: 5 victories
3 – Ghana: 4 victories
4 – Nigeria and Ivory Coast: 3 victories
6 – DR Congo and Algeria: 2 victories
Essam al-Hadary and Ahmed Hassan, princes of the CAN
The most successful nation being Egypt, the most sacred players in the history of the CAN are logically Pharaohs. In fact, the goalkeeper Essam al-Hadary and the attacking midfielder Ahmed Hassan took advantage of the Egyptian raid and the victories of 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010 to become the only ones to have lifted the continental trophy four times.
Samuel Eto’o, legendary scorer
He is a CAN legend. Crowned twice with Cameroon in 2000 and 2002, Samuel Eto’o is the top scorer in the history of the competition. With 18 goals spread over six appearances, the striker who played for FC Barcelona and Inter Milan had a profound impact on the tournament, finishing twice as top scorer in 2006 (5 goals) and in 2008 (5 goals).
It was also during this 2008 edition that the star of the Indomitable Lions overtook the former record holder, the Ivorian Laurent Pokou (14 goals), known for having scored the only quintuple in the history of the CAN against Ethiopia in 1970.
A figure from Nigeria’s golden era in the 1990s, former Super Eagles striker Rashidi Yekini remains in third place in the rankings (11 goals). The top active scorer remains Vincent Aboubakar, who will however not be able to improve his mark of 9 goals in 2025, having not been included in the Cameroonian list.
Top scorers:
1 – Samuel Eto’o (Cameroun) : 18 Buts
2 – Laurent Pokou (Ivory Coast): 14 goals
3 – Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria): 13 goals
4 – Hassan El-Shazly (Egypt): 12 goals
5 – Patrick Mboma (Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Hossam Hassan (Egypt): 11 goals
Rigobert Song and André Ayew, stakhanovists of the CAN
Another record co-held by a Cameroonian. Pillar of the Indomitable Lions between 1993 and 2010, Rigobert Song played 36 CAN matches and participated in eight editions of the continental tournament.
Only the Ghanaian André Ayew is doing just as well, but he will not have the opportunity to overtake his illustrious predecessor at the next African Cup of Nations, with the Black Stars failing to qualify.
Special mention to the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan and Tunisian Youssef Msakniwho also participated in eight CAN but played fewer matches.
Charles Kumi Gyamfi and Hassan Shehata, pillars of the benches
Egypt’s legend at the CAN was not only written on the pitch. Indeed, to supervise Essam al-Hadary, Ahmed Hassan, Mohamed Aboutrika and all the other big names of the 2006-2008-2010 hat-trick, a great conductor was necessary: Hasan Shehatapresent on the bench of the Pharaohs from 2004 to 2011.
With three African championship titles, the Egyptian coach equaled the record of Charles Kumi Gyamfiarchitect of Ghana’s successes in 1963, 1965 and 1982. The two men jointly hold the record for the greatest number of coronations for a coach.
Other records
- Tunisia has participated in the last 16 editions of the African Cup of Nations, current series. No one has ever done better in the history of the competition.
- Egypt holds the invincibility record for a team at the CAN. The Pharaohs went 24 games without defeat between 2006 and 2017, before losing to Cameroon in the final.
- Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast) is the best passer in the history of the continental tournament. The Elephants legend delivered 7 offerings in 29 matches, between 2004 and 2015.
- The Congolese Ndaye Mulamba has the record for the number of goals scored in a single CAN: 9 goals during the 1974 edition.
- Hervé Renard is the only coach to have won the CAN with two different nations: with Zambia in 2012 then with Ivory Coast in 2015.
- The French Claude LeRoy participated in 9 CAN final stages as coach. No one does better than the “White Wizard”, who played in Cameroon (1986 and 1988), Senegal (1990 and 1992), Ghana (2008), DR Congo (2006 and 2013), Congo (2015) and Togo (2017).
