Aboubakar Vincent, the top scorer at the 2021 African Cup of Nations, majestically enters the league of the greatest African footballers

[CamerExcellence] – It is an understatement to say that he is the top scorer of an edition of the AFCON. His eight goals scored during the AFCON TotalEnergies 2021 make him one of the highest scorers of an AFCON. He is thus ahead of Hassan Al Shazly, the Egyptian, who scored six goals in the 1963 AFCON. Or the Nigerian Yekini Rashidi with his five goals in 1994. Even the duo Samuel Eto’o-Patrick Mboma, together, do not were able to reach this figure in 2000 in Nigeria.

The Cameroonian striker of Al-Nassr FC is, according to football historians, the first player in 48 years to score so many goals in a AFCON! It was during AFCON 1974 that Congolese Pierre Ndaye Mulamba scored 9 goals. Record never equaled to date.

A real surface fox, Aboubakar Vincent also knows how to make himself available in midfield. Proof that the former glory of Nigerian football, Jay Jay Okocha, felt that he should have received the title of best player of AFCON TotalEnergies 2021, at the expense of Senegalese Sadio Mané.

A model for young people from Coton Sport and Africa

If his portrait is hoisted at the entrance to the Cotton facilities, it is because he deserves it. Aboubakar Vincent only had eyes for football. One of his coaches at Coton Sport de Garoua, Mr. Kada, recalls “that he trained before going to school, when he left school… He knew what he wanted”.. An example to follow for current and future generations.

“For all the young people at the club, he is a role model. Every time he comes back, he stops by the training center and gives advice. When one of them has a bad attitude, we cite him as an example to put him back on the right track,” continues Kada, his former supervisor.

Coton Sport is the best professional club in the North of Cameroon. It is financed by the staff mutual fund of the Cotton Development Company (Sodecoton), the main economic operator in northern Cameroon, which supervises around 250,000 small farmers and has some 2,000 permanent employees.

The Ouest-France site recalls that “Aboubakar Vincent grew up in the popular district of Roumdé Adjia. In the main dirt street, motorbikes make their way between eateries and children playing ball. The place according to Michel Dior, the player’s older brother, has a bad reputation. It is even said that it is “the corner of alcoholics”. He adds that the indomitable lion of Cameroon was not a fan of outings, and when he did, he was careful not to waste money.

Fernand Sadou is the executive chairman of Coton Sport de Garoua. He is already thinking of collaborating with foreign clubs.

“Aboubakar is the club’s best ambassador, a pure product of our training center which has nearly 125 young people. We are now looking to develop partnerships with foreign clubs so that they can support us,” he explained.

Especially since, explains Fernand Sadou, a player who leaves for Europe, it is on average 200,000 euros net, a very important sum for the development of the club.

The man of challenges

Seven professional clubs have already secured the services of Aboubakar Vincent until 2022. Date on which he has been a member of the Saudi club Al Nasr Ryad, since 2021. Before that, he went through Besiktas in Turkey (2020-2021, 15 goals). Between 2014 and 2020, he stayed in the locker rooms of Besiktas and Fc Porto in Portugal. He scored 72 goals, so 15 at Besiktas.

In 2014, he left his suitcases in Lorient in France. After going to Valenciennes. In Lorient, where he spent two seasons (2012-2014), Aboukar Vincent scored 17 goals, so sixteen in 34 games, the first season and only one goal in two games, during his second season.

After four seasons at Valenciennes, Aboubakar Vincent has 12 goals. Normal, the adaptation to a new style of life game, culture will not have allowed the young lion to release its claws. Because it comes straight from Coton Sport de Garoua, a Cameroonian First Division club. He spent three seasons there. With the key, the title of top scorer in the Cameroonian championship in 2010 (20 goals).

In the big leagues

With eight collective titles, he is one of the most successful African players. Behind names like Samuel Eto’o, Cameroon 18 trophies; Yaya Touré, Ivory Coast, 18 trophies; Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast, 17 trophies; Nwankwo Kanu, Nigeria, 16 trophies; Obi Mikel, Nigeria, 12 trophies, Michael Essien, Ghana, 12 trophies. At 30, he is a bronze medalist of the Afcon TotalEnergies 2021.

In 2017, he did not miss it; he will score the victorious goal of the indomitable lions against the Pharaohs of Egypt in the final. The same year, he was crowned Turkish champion. He will be again in 2021 and also won the Turkish Cup with Besiktas. n Porto, Portugal, he won the Super Cup in 2018, the championship in 2020 and the Portuguese Cup.

By Jean Materne Zambo