Qatar football player Akram Afif was the top-scorer at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 with eight goals from seven matches.

Qatar’s forward Akram Afif was awarded the AFC Asian Cup 2023 Golden Boot, after scoring eight goals in seven matches for his national team at the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

The striker netted a hat-trick of penalties in the final leading Qatar to a 3-1 win over Jordan and allowing the Maroons to retain the title they won in 2019, becoming one of only five teams to have managed such feat. 

Afif joins the likes of legendary Ali Daei, Tim Cahill and Lee Dong-gook in the list of footballers who have laid claim to the honour of being the Golden Boot winner in the past.

A total of 24 teams competed at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar, which concluded on February 10.

Iraq’s Aymen Hussein was the second-highest goal-scorer at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 with six goals from four matches.

“I would like to thank all Qataris. Congratulations to the coach and the fans. I can’t really express what we feel, but the coach worked really hard for us,” said Afif in his post-game interview. 

“However, I want to tell the fans that there is more to come from us. I also would like to thank my teammates for having confidence in me to take the penalties. That gave me a lot of confidence for all three penalties. I think we deserved the win tonight,” the 27-year-old added. 

Afif played a prominent role in Qatar’s triumphant campaign in 2019 and opened the 2023 tournament by scoring twice in the 3-0 Group A win over Lebanon in their opener. 

Against Tajikistan, Afif scored the winner in the 1-0 victory, pushing the team to take on Palestine in the Round of 16 and ultimately defeating them. 

Against Iran, Afif scored Qatar’s second with a booming effort as the defending champions edged to a 3-2 victory to book the final.