The Africa Cup of Nations is underway, with the continent’s best doing battle in Morocco.
A full round of fixtures has been and gone, with the second set of group clashes vital to deciding who will reach the knockout stages and who will be going home early.
Goals are ultimately vital to any team’s chances of winning not just Afcon, but pretty much any club or international tournament.
However, there wouldn’t be many goals scored without those who created the chances in the first place. A team’s creative dynamo is equally as important as the player stealing the headlines and finishing the chances. There’s no Haaland without Cherki, and at Afcon, there’s no Osimhen without Iwobi.
The Premier League is huge in Africa, while Afcon’s biggest stars are often from clubs in the English top-flight. It’ll come as little surprise to see that the top four chance creators at Afcon so far come from the Premier League…
Afcon 2025’s most creative players
| Position | Player | Nation | Minutes played | Chances created | Big chances created | Assists |
| 1 | Iliman Ndiaye | Senegal | 69 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Mohamed Salah | Egypt | 179 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Alex Iwobi | Nigeria | 90 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Bryan Mbeumo | Cameroon | 90 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | Teboho Mokoena | South Africa | 180 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Mohamed Hamdy | Egypt | 172 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | Clinton Mata | Angola | 180 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Hamdi Fathy | Egypt | 180 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Sadio Mane | Senegal | 78 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Nicolas Jackson | Senegal | 78 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Players ranked by chances created, with tiebreakers settled by minutes played, then assists. Stats correct at the time of writing.
Alex Iwobi
Alex Iwobi is the only player at Afcon so far to register more than one assist, setting up both goals in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Tanzania and creating a whopping seven chances in total.
That shouldn’t come as any surprise, with Iwobi first among Fulham players for chances created in the Premier League this season (23), while he’s registered 40 assists in the English top-flight to date with the Cottagers, Everton and Arsenal combined.
Bryan Mbeumo
Bryan Mbeumo is one of just two players — alongside Egypt’s Mohamed Hamdy — to hit three big chances created at Afcon to this point.
That translated into an assist for Etta Eyong’s winner in the 1-0 against Gabon. And similarly to Iwobi, Mbeumo put in a creative masterclass in that opener, laying up six chances.
That’s a reverse of Mbeumo’s contribution for United this season, for whom he’s scored seven goals across all competitions but only provided one assist. However, he registered totals of eight, six, eight, seven, 11 and seven assists during his six years with Brentford, and we all know he has devastating delivery.
Mbeumo will be key to Cameroon’s chances both in front of goal and as a creative force.
Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah doesn’t have an assist at Afcon yet, but he has created a tournament-high seven chances, and is just one behind Mbeumo and Hamdy for big chances created.
Egypt are one of the few teams to play two games already, giving Salah more chances to boost his numbers. However, he’s producing the goods, creating one chance against South Africa after laying up six against Zimbabwe in his opening game.
Of course, Salah has scored the winning goal for Egypt in both those games, as well. But if he carries on at this rate, you’d surely back the likes of Omar Marmoush and Trezeguet to help him bag a few assists as well.
Iliman Ndiaye
In terms of production-to-minutes, Iliman Ndiaye is the standout star at Afcon so far, with his 9.13 chances created per 90 minutes at least 3.13 more than any other player to clock 45+ minutes.
Ndiaye is yet to clock an assist at the tournament, but like Salah, it feels like a matter of time until he does. Especially given he has two assists in the Premier League this season, and grabbed one during the last competitive international break before Afcon, setting one goal up in Senegal’s 5-0 thrashing of South Sudan in World Cup qualifying.
The Everton man is key to a Senegal attack that also contains the likes of Sadio Mane, Nicolas Jackson and Ismaila Sarr.