AFCON U17 top scorers: Osimhen, Fandje Toure, Capita... Where are they now?

The 2023 edition of the competition is currently underway.

Many young players want to break into the football world and attract the attention of major teams. Due to the AFCON U17 being in full swing, we have seen many top-scorers in the tournament over the years. These tournaments help the young players make their names and few of them have already represented big clubs. In this article, we highlight the top four top-scorers in previous AFCON U17.

2013: Isaac Success

Another Nigerian completes our slide show, underscoring the importance of the country’s youth in the competition throughout the years.

Success has suffered with off-field issues and never really had the trust of any coaches, so it’s true that he hasn’t really achieved his potential in the Premier League with Watford.

That hadn’t been the situation in 2013, when Nigeria finished first in scoring at the African U17 Championship, losing to Cote d’Ivoire on penalties in the championship game. The Nigerian is 27-year-old is now playing for Serie A side Udinese Calcio.

2015: Victor Osimhen

Nigerian Victor Osimhen, who won the competition, has scored the most goals overall.

Osimhen has set an all-time record for the most goals scored by a single player in a single FIFA U17 World Cup competition, while also taking delight in his place among some of the best scorers who have blazed up the event.

Osimhen had already made an impression in the U-17 Afcon in 2015, but despite his goals earning him the best scorer honour, the Golden Eaglets were unable to win the championship. The striker has made his name and is plying his trade at Napoli, where he has become a prolific striker and is in sight of many European clubs.

2017: Fandje Touré

That was an appropriate title for the young man from Guinea, who had just entered adolescence and had emerged as the national hero after leading his country to the semifinal of the continental competition. With six goals, Toure was awarded the Golden Boot. Some of the top European clubs were already keeping an eye on the 14-year-old.

His quickness, technical mastery, spatial awareness, and dribbling prowess were already in high demand. If the scouts had any lingering concerns about his usefulness at venues outside of his comfort zone, they did. The Guinea who is now 20-year-old is now representing the Czech Republic club MFK Vyškov.

2019: Capita

The Association of African Football (CAF) organises the biennial international youth football competition for players ages 17 and under. The 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations was the tournament’s 13th iteration (18th if editions without hosts are counted). Tanzania will host the competition, it was determined in May 2015.

And Capita stole the show; at the time, the young player was on fire, scoring four goals to finish the competition as the leading scorer. Meanwhile, Capita now features for Liga Portugal 2 club Estrela da Amadora.