The 2023 African Cup of Nations was concluded on February 11, 2024, with the victory of Ivory Coast in front of adoring fans in Abidjan. The host was stunned by a first-half strike by William Troost-Ekong, but equalized in the 62nd minute through Franck Kessie. Later, Sebastian Haller, who was diagnosed with cancer a few years earlier, scored a late winner to give Ivory Coast their third championship.
But, now, we will look behind the celebrations of The Elephants towards the entire tournament. Recognize those who have excelled in this year’s tournament, as well as compare the 2023 African Cup of Nations to its predecessors.
2023 African Cup of Nations statistics
Top Scorers
Among the great African talent pool of Victor Osimhen, Mohamed Salah, and Jordan Ayew, it was Equitorial Guinean Emilio Nsue who claimed this year’s African Cup of Nations golden boot with 5 goals. Nsue’s five goals all came in the group stage; he scored a hattrick against the other Guinea, Guinea-Bissau on matchday 2 before scoring a brace to defeat eventual champions Ivory Coast 4-0. His performance allowed Equitorial Guinea to finish the group as winners with 7 points, tied with Nigeria.
However, they failed to continue the impressive run. Their fellow groupmates, Nigeria and Ivory Coast, both made it to the final, whereas they played against yet another Guinea in…Guinea and lost 0-1.
List of Players who scored more than two goals at the 2023 AFCON
- Emilion Nsue (Equitorial Guinea) with 5 goals
- Gelson Dala (Angola) and Mostafa Mohamed (Egypt) with 4 goals
- Baghdad Bounedjah (Algeria), Lassine Sinayoko (Mali), Mabululu (Angola), Ademola Lookman (Nigeria), Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria), Mohamed Bayo (Guinea) with 3 goals
Top Assist Makers
Yet another Equitorial Guinean made the list; this time it is Emilio Nsue’s teammate Jose Machin, who made joint-best 3 assists throughout the competition. He is joined by Fredy (Angola), Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou (Cameroon) as the only four players to have made more than two assists.
Most Cleansheets
The tournament’s Best Goalkeeper award winner, South African Ronwen Williams, topped the cleansheets table with 5 clean sheets. He made headlines when he saved multiple penalties in three successive shoot-outs: in the quarter-finals against Cape Verde, in the semi-finals against Nigeria, and in the third place play-off against DR Congo. Throughout the seven matches, he played every single minute and conceded only three goals.
In second, Nigeria’s Stanley Nwabili and Cape Verde’s Vozinha both kept three cleansheets.
Other Awards and Statistics
- The 2023 African Cup of Nations Most Valuable Player was awarded to William Troost-Ekong. The Nigerian captain was key in helping Nigeria reached its first final in more than a decade, scoring three goals.
- The 2023 African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament consisted of:
- Goalkeeper: Ronwen Williams (South Africa)
- Defenders: Ola Aina (Nigeria), Ghislain Konan (Ivory Coast), William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria), Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo)
- Midfielders: Teboho Mokoena (South Africa), Jean Michael Seri (Ivory Coast), Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast)
- Attackers: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), Ademola Lookman (Nigeria), Emilio Nsue (Equitorial Guinea)
- Head coach: Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast)
Interesting Team Rankings
At the end of the tournament, all 24 teams were ranked in a league table format. Teams are ranked by how many games they played, then their points tally, then their goals difference, then their goals scored.
Surprisingly, the champions were not actually the best team in this regard due to their poor group stage performance. They only amassed 13 points, while runners-up Nigeria racked up 14.
Fourth-place DR Congo actually scored fewer points than Senegal, who were eliminated in the Round of 16. If we rank these teams by their overall points alone, DR Congo would actually be placed eighth, below the likes of Cape Verde, Angola, Senegal and even Mali.
Fallen giants Ghana and Algeria had a shocking tournaments: both teams were ranked seventeenth and eighteenth respectively and registered no wins, two draws and one loss. Record-winner Egypt also had a winless tournament, with the Nile team drawing four times consecutively.
Effects on the All-Time Africa Cup of Nations Records
Team
With their third title, Ivory Coast overtook Algeria and DR Congo to become the joint-fourth most successful team of all-time with finalists Nigeria. The 2023 finalists are now equal, but still far behind the 7 of Egypt, the 5 of Cameroon, but closest to the 4 of Ghana.
In the medal table, Nigeria extended their lead over Egypt to three medals with their fifth silver medal. Champions Ivory Coast tied Cameroon with their ninth medal overall. South Africa’s second-ever bronze medal was only their fourth medal outright, and put them equal with DR Congo, Sudan and Tunisia in the medal rankings.
With their victory on home soil, Ivory Coast became the ninth host to win an Africa Cup of Nations, the first since Egypt in 2006, ending a seventeen-year and nine-edition long streak of unsuccessful hosts. Morocco’s win in 2025 would also see the first host consecutive victories since Tunisia and Egypt in 2004 and 2006, as well as the first medal three-peat since the 2004-2008 run. Will they succeed in 2025? Place your bets on the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying, FInals, and other exciting football tournaments at M88.
Senegal’s failure to defend their title means the last title defence was still in 2010 when Egypt secured their unprecedented third consecutive title. In fact, since 2012, no defending champions have progressed past the Round of 16.
By securing a spot in the 2023 tournament, Tunisia extended its active record of most consecutive participation to 16 times in a row.
Individual
Andre Ayew became the thirteenth footballer to score at least 10 goals in the Africa Cup of Nations. He also equalled the record of most tournaments for a player with 8 tournaments in a row (shared with Rigobert Song, Ahmed Hassan and Youssef Msakni) as well as the most games played with 36 games (shared with Rigobert Song).
As of this tournament, active players who have scored more than five goals at the Africa Cup of Nations throughout their career include Andre Ayew (10), Vincent Aboubakar and Sadio Mane (9), Mohamed Salah and Youssef Msakni (7), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emilio Nsue (6).
