Ace Football presents the 10 footballers to score the most Champions League goals from Africa in the competition’s history.
Some of the greatest footballers in history have graced the Champions League since its inception in 1955, including Africa’s greatest goalscorers.
In this feature, we profile the 10 African players with the most Champions League goals including the qualifiers. These men are some of the biggest stars from the continent and some of the very best the competition has ever seen.
NOTE: This list includes games and goals from the Champions League qualifying rounds.
10. Emmanuel Adebayor – 14 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 57 | 14 | 8 | 4 |
The former Togo international played for Arsenal, Monaco, Real Madrid, and Istanbul Basaksehir FK in the tournament. His best season was in 2008/09. Back then, he scored five goals in seven matches for Arsenal.
Emmanuel Adebayor retired from football in 2020 after a brief spell at Olimpia Asuncion in Paraguay.
9. George Weah – 14 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 22 | 14 | 2 | 3 |
George Weah is the only African player and the first non-European footballer to win the Ballon d’Or.
The three-time African Footballer of the Year spent five seasons in the Champions League and its previous guise, the European Cup. He represented Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, and AC Milan in the competition but never won it.
Since retiring from football, Weah became a politician and currently serves as the 25th President of Liberia.
8. Vincent Aboubakar – 14 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 24 | 14 | 3 | 2 |
Next on the list of highest-scoring African players is Cameroon international Vincent Aboubakar.
The 31-year-old forward has played for FC Porto and Besiktas in the competition. He last featured in it back in 2019/20 and rejoined Besiktas from Al-Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia in January 2023.
7. Seydou Doumbia – 19 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 35 | 19 | 2 | 3 |
Amongst the African players with the most Champions League goals is Seydou Doumbia, who retired in 2022 aged 34.
The Ivorian attacker enjoyed the best period of his career at CSKA Moscow and regularly scored in Europe, including a famous brace in the 2-1 win over Manchester City at the Etihad in 2014. He also played for Sporting CP and BSC Young Boys.
6. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 19 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 40 | 19 | 4 | 2 |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has played for three clubs in the Champions League – Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, and Marseille.
That’s despite the fact the Gabon international has played for Arsenal and Barcelona in the past. Nevertheless, he was a regular source of goals for Dortmund in Europe. His best run was in 2015/16, where he scored seven times to help the German club reach the quarter-finals.
5. Riyad Mahrez – 20 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 55 | 20 | 16 | 2 |
The Algeria international has starred in the Champions League for two clubs: Leicester and Manchester City.
Mahrez made his debut in 2016/17 after helping Leicester win the Premier League. The Foxes reached the quarter-finals that season. He jumped ship to Manchester City in 2018 and reached the final in May 2021 – only to lose 1-0 to Chelsea. He left Europe in the summer of 2023 to join Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia.
4. Sadio Mane – 27 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 71 | 27 | 10 | 3 |
Sitting as the fourth-highest-scoring African in Champions League history is Sadio Mane.
The Senegal international won the competition in 2019 with Liverpool, whom he left for Bayern Munich in 2022. He also featured for Austrian club Salzburg in the Champions League qualifiers between 2013 and 2014. He now plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
3. Samuel Eto’o – 33 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 82 | 33 | 20 | 5 |
The retired four-time African Footballer of the Year played for Real Madrid, Mallorca, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Barcelona in the competition.
Samuel Eto’o won the Champions League three times, twice with Barcelona and once at Inter. His role in helping Inter win the title in 2010 to complete a historic treble was arguably his greatest.
2. Didier Drogba – 44 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 94 | 44 | 15 | 3 |
Sitting second on the list of African players with the most Champions League goals is Ivorian legend Didier Drogba.
The former striker played for Marseille, Galatasaray, and Chelsea in the competition. He featured mostly for the latter, scoring 36 goals in 76 outings.
Drogba’s best moment was scoring the final penalty in Chelsea’s shootout victory over Bayern Munich in the 2012 final.
1. Mohamed Salah – 48 goals
| Games | Goals | Assists | Clubs |
| 89 | 48 | 17 | 4 |
Mohamed Salah surpassed Eto’o as the second-highest African goalscorer in the Champions League in September 2021 by scoring twice in Liverpool’s 5-1 win over Porto, and he has now gone above Drogba in the all-time scoring list.
The Egyptian King has played in Europe with FC Basel, Chelsea, AS Roma, and Liverpool.
His crowning moment was scoring the first goal in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final.
For a list of African players with the most Premier League goals in history, check out the link here.
“Lovren and Salah” by Eric The Fish (2020) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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