The array of players with an eye for goal at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 are likely to have to be at their prolific best to land the tournament Golden Boot.
Qatar’s Almoez Ali was the runaway winner at the previous edition in 2019, netting nine of the 130 goals at the finals to finish five ahead of any player.
The striker has rattled in the goals at an impressive rate for Qatar Stars League side Al-Duhail since 2016 and has home advantage at the finals, but the likes of South Korea talisman Son Heung-min and Iran’s Mehdi Taremi, who helped his country reach the semifinals in 2019, are expected to challenge Ali.
The Sporting News will update the top scorers’ table below, with assists and minutes played serving as the first and second tiebreakers.
MORE: Favourites to win the AFC Asian Cup Golden Boot in 2024
Asian Cup 2023 top scorers table
The Sporting News will be updating the table below after every matchday of the 2023 Asian Cup, through to the final on February 10, 2024.
Rank
Player
Team
Goals (PKs)
Assists
Matches
Minutes Played
1.
Aymen Hussein
Iraq
6 (1)
0
4
196
2.
Akram Afif
Qatar
3 (0)
1
3
206
=
Ayase Ueda
Japan
3 (1)
0
3
164
3.
Mahmoud Al-Mardi
Jordan
2 (0)
1
3
197
=
Takumi Minamino
Japan
2 (0)
1
3
195
=
Lee Kang-In
South Korea
2 (0)
1
3
270
=
Mousa Al-Tamari
Jordan
2 (1)
0
3
268
=
Sultan Adil
UAE
2 (1)
0
2
180
=
Mehdi Ghayedi
Iran
2 (0)
0
3
176
=
Supachai Chaided
Thailand
2 (0)
0
3
183
=
Mehdi Taremi
Iran
2 (0)
0
3
257
=
Son Heung-min
South Korea
2 (2)
0
3
270
=
Yahya Al Ghassani
UAE
2 (1)
0
4
267
=
Martin Boyle
Australia
2 (1)
0
4
308
=
Jackson Irvine
Australia
2 (0)
0
4
360
Asian Cup Golden Boot winners
In 2019, Ali broke the record for the most goals scored by one player at a single edition of the tournament, beating the total set in 1996 by storied Iran striker Ali Daei, who was the world’s top male international scorer with 108 until current Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo overtook him in 2021.
A three-goal total has been enough to top-score on four occasions, with two enough at one tournament, in 1964. That is unlikely to be repeated because the tournament involved a single stage between 1956 and 1968; the number of games players can participate in and potentially advance to has increased across the history of the cup, with teams guaranteed three matches in the current format and taking part in up to four more during the knockout phase.
Year
Player
Team
Goals
2019
Almoez Ali
Qatar
9
2015
Ali Mabkhout
UAE
5
2011
Koo Ja-cheol
South Korea
5
2007
Younis Mahmoud, Naohiro Takahara, Yasser Al-Qahtani
Iraq/Japan/Saudi Arabia
4
2004
A’ala Hubail, Ali Karimi
Bahrain/Iran
5
2000
Lee Dong-gook
South Korea
6
1996
Ali Daei
Iran
8
1992
Fahad Al-Bishi
Saudi Arabia
3
1988
Lee Tae-ho
South Korea
3
1984
Jia Xiuquan, Shahrokh Bayani, Nasser Mohammadkhani
China/both Iran
3
1980
Behtash Fariba, Choi Soon-ho
Iran/South Korea
7
1976
Fathi Kameel, Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Nasser Nouraei
Kuwait/both Iran
3
1972
Hossein Kalani
Iran
5
1968
Homayoun Behzadi, Giora Spiegel, Moshe Romano
Iran/both Israel
4
1964
Inder Singh, Mordechai Spiegler
India/Israel
2
1960
Cho Yoon-ok
South Korea
4
1956
Nahum Stelmach
Israel
4
Asian Cup all-time top scorers
Daei is the all-time top scorer with 14 goals but several players could overtake him in 2024, although they would likely need to top-score in order to do so.
Ali and UAE captain Ali Mabkhout were leading the race to take the record before the start of the tournament, sitting five goals shy of Daei’s total.
(Data correct before start of 2023 tournament. Active players denoted*.)
Player
Team
Goals
1.
Ali Daei
Iran
14
2.
Lee Dong-gook
South Korea
10
=
Almoez Ali*
Qatar
10
4.
Naohiro Takahara
Japan
9
=
Ali Mabkhout*
UAE
9
6.
Jasem Al-Huwaidi
Kuwait
8
=
Younis Mahmoud
Iraq
8
8.
Hossein Kalani
Iran
7
=
Faisal Al-Dakhil
Kuwait
7
=
Behtash Fariba
Iran
7
=
Choi Soon-ho
South Korea
7
How to watch 2023 AFC Asian Cup: TV channel, live stream
Here’s how to watch 2023 AFC Asian Cup matches across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
USA: AFC Asian Cup matches will be available for live streaming via Paramount+ and Fubo.
UK: Asian Cup matches will be shown on subscription streaming service TrillerTV.
Australia: Paramount+ will provide streaming services for the tournament and 10 Play will broadcast Australia’s matches.
India: Streaming service FanCode is the place to go for AFC Asian Cup matches.
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