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 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. | Akram Afif | Qatar | 8 (4) | 3 | 7 | 506 |
| 2. | Aymen Hussein | Iraq | 6 (1) | 0 | 4 | 196 |
| 3. | Ayase Ueda | Japan | 4 (1) | 0 | 5 | 332 |
| = | Yazan Al-Naimat | Jordan | 4 (0) | 3 | 7 | 484 |
| 4. | Son Heung-min | South Korea | 3 (1) | 1 | 6 | 600 |
| = | Oday Dabbagh | Palestine | 3 (0) | 0 | 4 | 290 |
| = | Mehdi Taremi | Iran | 3 (1) | 0 | 5 | 435 |
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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/Iran/Iran | 3 |
| 1980 | Behtash Fariba, Choi Soon-ho | Iran/South Korea | 7 |
| 1976 | Fathi Kameel, Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Nasser Nouraei | Kuwait/Iran/Iran | 3 |
| 1972 | Hossein Kalani | Iran | 5 |
| 1968 | Homayoun Behzadi, Giora Spiegel, Moshe Romano | Iran/Israel/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:
| Region | TV | Streaming |
| USA | — | Fubo, Paramount+ |
| Canada | — | — |
| UK | — | TrillerTV |
| Australia | 10 Play | Paramount+ |
| India | — | FanCode |
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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