Mohamed Salah claims Africa Cup of Nations record as Egypt beat Zimbabwe
Topic:Soccer
5m ago5 minutes agoTue 23 Dec 2025 at 8:57pm
Mohamed Salah shoots for goal
Mohamed Salah scored in a fifth Africa Cup of Nations tournament in a row. (Getty Images: Stringer/Anadolu)
In short:
Mohamed Salah scored a 91st-minute winner for Egypt against Zimbabwe in its Africa Cup of Nations opener.
Salah is the first Egyptian player to score in five consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
What's next?
Egypt takes on South Africa in its next match, before meeting Angola in its final pool-phase match.
Mohamed Salah became the first Egyptian player to score in five consecutive editions of the African Cup of Nations with his late strike in a 2-1 win over Zimbabwe on Monday.
Egypt's captain, starting his first game after four successive matches on the bench at Liverpool, fired home a left-footed effort in the 91st minute to give the seven-time champions a late victory and Hossam Hassan's side a comfortable start in Morocco, setting a record for Egypt.
"Our national team captain Mohamed Salah becomes the first Egyptian player to score in five consecutive editions of the Africa Cup of Nations," the Egyptian FA posted on X.
Liverpool's talisman — who has been struggling to get in the Reds' side this season — scored in the 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and now 2025 editions, matching Ivory Coast's trio of Didier Drogba, Abdoulaye Traore and Yaya Toure, as well as Tunisian winger Youssef Msakni.
Salah now has the chance to increase his tally with two AFCON tournaments scheduled within the next three years in 2027 and 2028.
A goal in each edition would allow the Egypt international to break the record held by Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, Zambia's Kalusha Bwalya and the Ghanaian duo Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan.
The 33-year-old has scored eight goals in 20 AFCON games — four fewer than Hassan El-Shazly, Egypt's all-time top scorer in the tournament, and three fewer than his current coach Hassan.
Egypt will face South Africa on Friday and then Angola on December 29, as Salah aims to finally lift the Africa Cup after losing the final in 2017 and 2021.
Reuters
Posted5m ago5 minutes agoTue 23 Dec 2025 at 8:57pm
Copy link
X (formerly Twitter)