Milestones achieved by Nigeria, Troost-Ekong, Lookman at AFCON 2023

The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations have come and gone with the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire defeating the Super Eagles of Nigeria to win their third
title.

The defeat for the Nigerians in their eighth final appearance was their fifth (after 1984, 1988, 1990 and 2000), equalling Ghana for the joint-most a side
has finished as the tournament’s runners-up.

The Super Eagles had earlier equalled another AFCON feat when they played in their 11th quarterfinal game in the history of the competition after Ghana,
Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

Nigeria also equalled a record hitherto held by Egypt after winning the pnalty shootout against South Africa. They have now won six penalty shootouts at the
Africa Cup of Nations, the joint-highest tally in the competition’s history.

The tournament was not just about the team as individual records were either equalled or broken.

Nigeria’s on-field captain, William Troost-Ekong became the first defender/full back to score three goals in the same AFCON edition since 2010 when Opta started collecting data for the competition.

Troost-Ekong is also one of the first players (with Sébastien Haller of Côte d’Ivoire) to score in both the semi-final and final in the same AFCON edition since Gedo with Egypt in 2010.

He has scored from four of his five shots on target at the Africa Cup of Nations overall for Nigeria, converting two penalties at this year’s tournament.

Troost-Ekong’s also one of only four Nigerians to score two penalties at a single AFCON, along with Samuel Ojebode (1976), Jay-Jay Okocha (2004) and
Victor Moses (2013), although, excluding shootouts, the last penalty scored in an AFCON final was in 1988 (Emmanuel Kundé for Cameroon vs Nigeria).

Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman was not left out as he became the fourth Nigerian to score three or more goals in the knockout rounds of a single AFCON edition, after Ighalo in 2019 (4), Jay-Jay Okocha in 2004 (3) and Rashidi Yekini in 1994 (3).