Top African Scorers of All Time

The answer to the first two questions above - we mean

top 10 African goalscorers in 2021

and top 10 goal scorers in the world in 2021 - is no. There is no one on the list of top African scorers of all time who is either among top 10 African goalscorers in 2021 or

top 10 goal scorers in the world in 2021

.

To your surprise, Mohamed Salah who is actually the

top goal scorer in Africa in 2021

is not on the list of top African scorers of all time. In fact, he has not scored enough goals yet to be on this list, though he’s near and he would probably find his place on the list sooner or later with the goals he will score in the future. And the list of top 10 goal scorers in the world in 2021 is another story since there is no footballer on this list which is on the list of top African scorers of all time or vice versa.

A List of Top African Scorers of All Time

Here comes a list of top African scorers of all time with the legendary African footballer, Roger Milla, topping the list. But who come next? Let’s see.

Roger Milla (479 Goals) 

Number one on the list of top African scorers of all time, Roger Milla is a 69-year-old retired Cameroonian footballer and one of the legendary African footballers who managed to score a total of 479 goals during his 29-year career from 1967 to 1996. Roger Milla served 11 French and Cameroonian clubs during his career with the best of them being Monaco. He also served the

between 1973 and 1994 during which he managed to score 43 goals in 77 appearances for them which translates to 1.1 goals in every two appearances.

Roger Milla actually holds the record for the oldest goalscorer in the World Cup history with the goal he scored against Russia at the age of 42 in 1994 World Cup. By doing so, he actually broke his previous record of being the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history he had achieved in 1990 World Cup. In that World Cup, he was an integral part of the Cameroon national team scoring four goals for his team and helping them advance to the competition’s quarter-finals and becoming the first African team in the World Cup history to have reached that stage.

Roger Milla is one of the five African footballers one the FIFA 100 list composed by the Brazilian legend, Pele. He was also named African Footballer of the Year in 1976 and 1990 and Africa Cup of Nations Best Player in 1986 and became the same competition’s top scorer in 1986 and 1988. It should also be mentioned here that Milla was selected as the best African footballer in the past 50 years by the Confederation of African Football in 2007.

Samuel Eto’o (426 Goals)

Although he’s not a legendary player, Samuel Eto’o has always been considered as one of the top footballers Africa and in specific Cameroon has ever produced. Eto’o is currently 40 years old and he recently retired in 2018-19 season with the last club he served being

. He was a prolific goalscorer and served the top La Liga club, Barcelona, more than any other club during his career. Maybe you get surprised, but he actually managed to score 130 goals in 199 appearances for the Spanish club which means he scored almost two goals (exactly 1.95) in every 3 appearances for them.

Eto’o also served other top European clubs like Inter Milan and Chelsea and proving a prolific goalscorer with them, too, with the 53 goals he scored in 102 appearances for the former and 12 goals in 35 appearances for the latter. And for the Cameroonian national team? Well, he actually scored 56 goals in 118 appearances which means he almost scored one goal (exactly 0.94) in every two appearances for them. As you see, it didn’t matter where Eto’o played; he always proved a prolific goalscorer.

Eto’o holds the record for the most number of times an African player has been named as African Player of the Year with the four times he was named so in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010, of course, jointly with the top Ivorian footballer, Yaya Toure, who was honored with the African title from 2011 to 2014. Other than that, Eto’o is Africa Cup of Nations,

, and the Cameroonian national team top scorer of all time with the 18, 54, and 56 goals that he scored in or for them, respectively. He’s also more decorated than Roger Milla concerning the club trophies he has won (15) and he was actually part of the Cameroonian national team who won the 2000 and 2002 editions of Africa Cup of Nations.

Godfrey Chitalu (393 Goals)

He’s not as famous as Roger Milla or Samuel Eto’o, but he’s still the third African top scorer of all time. Yes! We’re talking about the passed Zambian footballer, Godfrey Chitalu, who died at the age of 45 in an unfortunate plane crash where he was travelling with the Zambian national team for their first 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification game. Chitalu scored 329 goals during his 18-year career from 1964 to 1982, but there are some sources that say the real number of goals he scored is beyond 490, however, these sources have actually taken into account all the goals that Chitalu also scored in unofficial competitions while in this post we have only counted the official goals a footballer has scored.

It might be interesting for you to know that based on the claims of Zambia’s Football Association, Chitalu scored even more goals than Gerd Muller’s total in 1972 and Lionel Messi’s in 2012 - both world records - which was of course higher than 100, but FIFA didn’t accept that since there was no official FIFA record proving that and that was probably because FIFA didn’t track domestic competitions and the goals scored in them at that time. Anyhow, Chitalu only served two Zambian clubs, namely

and Kabwe Warriors, during his career. He also served the Zambian national team for 12 years between 1968 and 1980 scoring 79 goals in the 111 appearances that he made for them - a little bit more than 2 goals in every 3 appearances. The passed Zambian footballer has also some individual honors to his name among them are five Zambian Footballer of the Year awards and becoming the Zambian League top scorer in six seasons.

Didier Drogba (369 Goals)

Mostly considered as a Chelsea player, Didier Drogba is a 43-year-old retired Ivorian footballer who served eight clubs during his 20-year career with the most prominent of which being Chelsea. He actually served Chelsea in two time periods; once from 2004 to 2012 and another time in 2014-15 season. He made around 381 appearances and scored 157 goals for Chelsea which is at least three and five times higher than the number of appearances and goals he made and scored for the other clubs he served during his career, respectively.

Drogba is one of the highly-decorated footballers on the list of

top African scorers of all time

at least concerning the Individual awards he has won, and he’s the one with most individual records to his name on the list; actually 26 records some of which are most goals scored by a non-English player for Chelsea (164), Most goals scored in the Premier League by an African player (104), most appearances in Champions League by an African player (94), and finally Ivory Coast all-time top scorer with 65 goals. And don’t forget that Drogba also became the most expensive Ivorian footballer ever when he moved to Chelsea in 2004 for a then club record of £24 million.

Dieumerci Mbokani (328 Goals)

One of the two footballers on the list of top African scorers of all time who is still in the business, Dieumerci Mbokani is a 36-year-old Congolese forward who is currently serving the Kuwaiti club, Kuwait SC. Of course, that’s not the only club Mbokani has served to this date; he has also played for some top European clubs like Anderlecht and Monaco. He has also been playing for the

since 2005 scoring 22 goals in his 46 appearances for them - almost one goal in every two appearances, though he retired once from his international career sometime in 2016 and made his return to the national team again in the 2017 edition of Africa Cup of Nations. Maybe Mbokani is not as famous a footballer as the footballers already mentioned in this post, however, he once became Africa Cup of Nations top scorer - actually in 2015 where his country finished third in the competition - and also Belgian First Division A top scorer in 2019-20 season while he was serving the Belgian club, Antwerp.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (300 Goals)

Arsenal’s leading light, as they call him, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is actually the second footballer on the list of

top African scorers of all time

who is still in the business. He is but younger than Mbokani - he’s 32 years old - and has probably another five or six years ahead of him before the end of his career. Other than Arsenal, Aubameyang has also served the top German club, Borussia Dortmund, during his career. In fact, he has served Borussia Dortmund for 5 years between 2013 and 2018 which surpasses the three years he has served Arsenal, however, he’s more known as an Arsenal player and will probably continue to serve the top English club in the years to come especially that the 32-year-old Gabonese-French footballer signed a new 3-year contract with the Gunners in 2020.

We said the Gabonese-French footballer; yes, we did! Aubameyang is a French footballer with Gabonese origins and has the citizenship of both countries, however, he has not played for the French national team yet and except for one appearance that he made for France U21 team he has made no appearances for the French under-aged or senior national teams. But he has made 71 appearances and has scored 29 goals for the

since 2009 that he’s been serving them which means he has scored 2 goals in every 5 appearances for them.

George Weah (288 Goals)

If not a legend, George Weah is for sure one of the best footballers on the list of

top African scorers of all time

. He’s the only African winner of the Ballon d’Or trophy - the 1995 edition - and the only footballer on the list and better said in the world who became his country’s (Liberia) president after he hung up his boots - If you know any other footballer of this stature, please let us know! But let’s get to his footballing life. George Weah played for 12 different clubs during his career the most prominent of which were PSG and AC Milan. He also served his country’s national team from 1986 to 2018 scoring 18 goals in his 75 appearances for them.

George Weah is also one of the footballers on the list to have been named on FIFA 100 list by the Brazilian legend, Pele. And more to his fame, FIFA once described as the prosecutor of today’s multi-functional strikers. He’s also a highly-decorated footballer on the list with most of his awards being personal like the African Footballer of the Year awards he won in 1989, 1994, and 1995, and FIFA World Player of the Year award he won in 1995. Monaco,

, and PSG are the three teams Weah scored the most number of his club goals for with the first one getting a share of 66, the second one 58, and the third 55 goals from Weah’s club goals.

Asamoah Gyan (274 Goals)

Unlike some other footballers on the list who served some top European clubs like Inter Milan, Chelseas, and Barcelona during their careers, Asamoah Gyan did not follow this fashion though he served some lesser known clubs like Udinese and Sunderland during his career. In general, Gyan served 11 clubs during his 18-year career which started in 2003 and ended recently in 2021. He managed to score a total of 274 goals both at club and international level from which 51 were scored for the his country’s national team (Ghana) and the rest for the clubs he served during his career with UAE club,

, getting the highest share of his goals (73) compared to other clubs.

Gyan actually scored his 51 international goals in 109 appearances which means he almost scored one goal (exactly 0.92) in every two  appearances for the Ghanaian national team. With that number of goals, however, he has become Ghana top scorer of all time. He has also taken part in seven editions of Africa Cup of Nations, namely 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 editions, finishing third in the 2008 edition and as runner-up in 2010 and 2015 ones with the Ghanaian national team. Gyan is not also a very decorated  footballer, however, he was named Ghana Player of the Year in 2010 and 2014 and managed to win 5 club trophies with Al Ain.

Ahmed Faras (273 Goals)

One of the two oldest footballers on the list of top African scorers of all time with an age of 75 and also the only one-club man on the list, Ahmed Faras is a former Moroccan forward who served only the Moroccan club,

, during his 17-year career which lasted from 1965 to 1982. He scored a total of 231 goals in 784 appearances for the above-mentioned club which means he scored almost one goal (exactly 0.9) in every 3 appearances for the Moroccan club.

The remaining 42 goals Faras scored during his career was scored for the Moroccan national team and in 94 appearances which means he scored more than 2 goals (exactly 2.2) in every 5 appearances for his country’s national team. With that number of goals (42) Faras is actually Morocco’s top scorer of all time. He was also named African Footballer of the Year in 1975 and won the 1976 edition of Africa Cup of Nations with the Moroccan national team and also four club trophies with the club mentioned above. It should also be mentioned here that in 2006 Faras was chosen by CAF as one of the best 200 African footballers in the past 50 years.

Salif Keita (255 Goals)

The other oldest footballer on the list of top African scorers of all time, Salif Keita is a 75-year-old retired Malian footballer who served seven clubs during his 17-year career with the most prominent of them being Olympique de Marseille and Valencia. Keita was almost a prolific goalscorer during his career with 242 goals in 414 appearances at club level and 13 goals in 28 appearances at international level which both translate to around one goal in every two appearances. Keita was named African Footballer of the Year in 1970 and became African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1965 and 1966. He also won a handful of club trophies with the clubs he served during his career but no international trophy. One interesting fact about Keita is that he’s the founder of the first professional football training center in his country, Mali, which actually bears his name too. And just like George Weah, he’s also been to politics for some time; actually since 2007 which he’s been acting as the deputy minister for the Malian Prime Minister.

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