Mohamed Salah Tops Africa's World Cup Qualifying Goalscorers with Historic Achievement

Mohamed Salah just broke another record, and this one's pretty special. The Egyptian striker became the all-time leading scorer in African World Cup qualifying after netting twice against Djibouti on Wednesday. With 20 goals in qualifying matches, he's now ahead of some serious company in African football history.

The Liverpool star reached this milestone during Egypt's match against Djibouti in Casablanca, Morocco. It was part of the ninth round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Here's what makes this record impressive: Salah scored his 20 goals in just 34 qualifying matches. That's better efficiency than the players he just passed. Algeria's Islam Slimani sits in second place with 18 goals, but he needed 37 games to get there. Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba also scored 18 goals, though he took 47 matches. Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Burkina Faso's Moumouni Dagano both hit 18 goals too, but they played 44 games each.

For Egypt specifically, Salah now has a comfortable lead as the country's top World Cup qualifying scorer. He's six goals ahead of retired Egyptian icon Mohamed Aboutrika, who scored 14 times in qualifying rounds. Nine of Salah's 20 goals have come in the current qualifying campaign for 2026.

This adds another chapter to Salah's already packed trophy case of individual records. At 31, he continues to be Egypt's main attacking threat and shows no signs of slowing down. With one more qualifying round to go, he might extend this record even further before the 2026 World Cup qualifying process wraps up.