Ranking the seven greatest African players of all time who’ve never won AFCON: Salah, Drogba… | OneFootball

The African Cup of Nations returns this weekend and a number of big-name players will be hoping to get their hands on the trophy for the first time.

AFCON first took place in 1957 and Egypt hold the record for the most titles, with seven throughout the competition’s history.

We’ve gone back to the very start and have ranked the seven greatest African players who’ve surprisingly never won the tournament.

7. Nwankwo Kanu

The former Arsenal and Inter forward came close to winning AFCON on multiple occasions, but never got over the line.

He came closest to winning it in 2000, but lost the final against Cameroon on penalties and was one of two Nigerian players to miss their spot-kick.

Kanu also made it to the semi-final in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010, but narrowly lost each time.

6. Emmanuel Adebayor

Adebayor was voted as the African Footballer of the Year in 2008, beating stiff competition from Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Michael Essien.

Representing Togo, the odds were always stacked against the former Arsenal and Spurs striker when it came to AFCON.

The furthest that he ever made it was to the quarter-finals in 2013, where Togo were ultimately defeated by Burkina Faso.

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Like Adebayor, Aubameyang has never made it further than the quarter-finals.

He’s Gabon’s record scorer with 39 goals and is still playing international football today at the age of 36.

At club level, he’s been in fine form for Marseille, having scored eight goals so far this season in the lead-up to AFCON 2025.

Given his age, this will likely be his last tournament for Gabon. Let’s see if they can pull of an upset.

4. Michael Essien

The former Chelsea star made it to the final in 2010 and a semi-final in 2008, but just fell short on each occasion.

“Yes, [it hurts that we didn’t win a trophy] because we were so unlucky with the AFCON 2008. We got so close, but it didn’t happen,” Essien told Sporty FM.

“We would have loved to win something for the nation, but it didn’t happen, and we had to move on.”

Despite Ghana’s rich footballing history, they’ve not won AFCON since 1982 and they failed to qualify for this year’s tournament.

3. Didier Drogba

Drogba lost the AFCON final in 2006 and 2012, losing both matches on penalties.

The 2006 loss against Egypt will arguably sting the most as he missed Ivory Coast’s first penalty in the shootout.

Agonisingly, his nation did go on to win the tournament in 2015, but Drogba himself had already retired from international duty by that point.

Regardless of his lack of silverware on the international stage, there’s no doubt that he ranks among the greatest African players of all time.

With 65 goals in 105 international appearances, he’s also his nation’s highest scoring player of all time.

2. George Weah

To this day, Weah remains the only African player to have ever won the Ballon d’Or.

He was a two-time African Footballer of the Year and one of the most prolific goalscorers of the nineties.

While he enjoyed plenty of success at club level, the odds were always stacked against him on the international stage for Liberia.

Weah qualified for two AFCON tournaments, but exited in the group stage on both occasions. Since retiring from international duty, Liberia haven’t qualified for a single AFCON tournament, further highlighting Weah’s importance.

1. Mohamed Salah

Will 2025 finally be his year?

Salah has finished as an AFCON runner-up on two occasions, in 2017 and 2021.

The 2021 defeat against Senegal was particularly painful as Salah was waiting to take Egypt’s fifth penalty, only for his side to have already lost the shootout before it got to him.

Jamie Carragher recently criticised his lack of international silverware and the 33-year-old will no doubt be hungrier than ever to prove the doubters wrong at the tournament this year.

“He’s the greatest player his country have ever had in Egypt,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

“Egypt are the most successful country in the Africa Cup of Nations and he’s going there in a couple of weeks.

“Salah’s never won the AFCON. That’s not me trying to put Mo Salah down as a player. I’ve just said he’s one of the best players in the world over the last eight years, very few better.

“But, what it tells Salah and his agent is that it’s not about an individual.”

Egypt are currently being tipped as the second favourites to win the tournament, behind Morocco.