The Africa Cup of Nations has escaped the hands of many of the continent's most of iconic footballers, including Egypt's Mohamed Salah. Here's a look at five African superstars who have never won the prestigious tournament.
Read: Money Matters: Namibia's R15m AFCON success
Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
The Liverpool forward suffered yet another huge setback in his quest to claim the biggest title in Africa when his Egypt team were dumped out of the current edition in the round of 16. Given the fact he has been one of the best players in the world for the better part of the decade, his record of four participations at the competition makes for worrisome reading. Furthermore, there has been an argument about where he ranks among Africa's greatest players of all time if he has never won the trophy as the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Toure have. Now approaching a century of caps for the Pharaohs, Salah's personal record, however, is quite formidable as he has seven goals and four assists in 19 matches at AFCONs, with his best finish being a runners-up medal in the previous edition in Cameroon.
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Undoubtedly one of the best strikers the continent has ever produced, Drogba's glittering list of achievements unfortunately does not include the AFCON title. Despite scoring 64 goals and 17 assists in 92 appearances for his country, the retired Ivorian played at the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2013 editions but only claimed two runners-up medals. To make matters worse, Ivory Coast would finally go on to win the competition in 2015, just a year after Drogba announced his retirement.
Benni McCarthy (South Africa)
South Africa's most prolific striker of all time, McCarthy was unfortunate to only make his international debut in 1997, a year after Bafana Bafana won their first-ever continental crown. His country finished second at the 1998 AFCON, as the Cape Town native won the player of the tournament and finished as the joint-top goalscorer. He would go on to represent his national team in the 2002 and 2006 showpieces but with no success. Now occupying a role as the Manchester United strikers coach, McCarthy is arguably SA's best import ever and the only player from the country to have won a UEFA Champions League trophy.
Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)
The now-38-year-old has the sixth most appearances at AFCON, behind Rigobert Song (Cameroon), Andre Ayew (Ghana), Ahmed Hassan (Egypt), Seydou Keita (Mali), and Geremi Njitap (Cameroon), according to Statista. He received his first call-up for the tournament in 2006 but didn't feature during that event due to injury. Despite being Ghana's best striker for the vast part of his international career, he was part of the Blacks Stars side that lost to Ivory Coast on penalties in the 2015 final and failed to get his hands on the trophy. Today, he remains Ghana's all-time top scorer with 48 goals in 106 matches.
Seydou Keita (Mali)
As per Statista, the former midfielder has the fourth most appearances at AFCON but as many would guess by now, the title escaped him. The ex-central midfielder spent the best part of his career at FC Barcelona, where he won 15 trophies in 188 matches, including two Champions League titles under Pep Guardiola. Keita participated in seven editions of the showpiece between 2002 and 2015, and would go on to retire later that year having captained the side. He made 99 appearances for Mali and scored 26 goals from the heart of midfield.
Disclaimer: SNL24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on SNL24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of SNL24.
Read: 5 top stars who've flopped at AFCON 2023
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
WATCH: