• Islam Slimani scored in Algeria’s 3-1 win over Somalia

• He now has 18 goals in CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup

• That puts him level with Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Moumouni Dagano

Islam Slimani is now the joint best goalscorer in African qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup™ with 18, having drawn level with Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Moumouni Dagano.

Slimani, who plays for Coritiba FC in Brazil, came on midway through the second half for Algeria against Somalia on the first matchday of CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 26™ and turned the game around, enabling Les Fennecs to pick up a 3-1 win.

FIFA takes a closer look at the top four goal-scorers in African World Cup qualifiers.

During his long and storied international career with Côte d’Ivoire, Didier Drogba made 105 appearances and scored 65 goals, making him Les Elephants’ all-time top-scorer. Eighteen of those came in three qualifying campaigns – all of which were successful: in 2006 (nine goals), 2010 (six) and 2014 (three).

Since he retired however, Côte d’Ivoire have failed qualify for a World Cup, proving just how Drog-dependent they were. At World Cup final phases, he scored at Germany 2006 against Argentina (in a 2-1 defeat) and in South Africa in 2010 against Brazil (in a 3-1 loss).

Cameroon’s leading goal-scorer (56 goals in 118 appearances) and current FA president took part in four World Cups, the first in 1998 when he was just 17. While he did not appear in the qualifiers for that tournament in France, the 2000 Olympic gold-medal-winner with the young Indomitable Lions certainly racked up the goals in the next four campaigns: three ahead of the 2002 World Cup, four for 2006, nine for 2010 and two for 2014, with Germany 2006 being the only tournament they failed to qualify for.

At the final phase in 2002, he scored the only goal of the game in Cameroon’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, then eight years later, he scored twice, in a pair of 2-1 defeats to Denmark and the Netherlands in the group stages.

Burkina Faso may never have qualified for a World Cup, but Moumouni Dagano certainly hit the headlines during African qualifying for 2010, finding the back of the net on no fewer than 12 occasions.

Les Etalons have had one of their players finish as top-scorer in a World Cup qualifying campaign a number of times: Prejuce Nakoulma in 2018 (level with Egypt’s Mo Salah on five), Dagano in 2010 with 12 and Mamadou Zongo in 1998 (level with three other players on five). The former Guingamp and Sochaux striker had already scored once in the 2002 qualifying campaign and five times in the 2006 qualifiers, taking his total up to 18.

During the Qatar 2022 qualifying campaign, Slimani’s eight goals saw him finish as top-scorer but were not enough to propel Algeria to the final phase. He had already suffered similar heartbreak in 2018, despite his four goals in that campaign.

In 2014 World Cup qualifying however, the former Sporting CP, Monaco, Olympique Lyonnais and Leicester City striker’s five goals did help Algeria through to the final phase in Brazil, where he went on to score twice – in the 4-2 win over Korea Republic and the 1-1 draw with Russia that took them to the round of 16. Aged 35 now – he will be 38 when the next World Cup kicks off in 2026 – does he have one last hurrah left in him?