Nigeria and Lille forward Victor Osimhen scooped the 2019/20 Marc-Vivien Foé award for the best African player in France’s top football league, Ligue 1.
Osimhen, who garnered 284 points, defeated Islam Slimani of Algeria and Monaco and Yunis Abdelhamid of Morocco and Stade de Reims, who got 95 points and 89 points respectively.
Osimhen became the fifth player from the club to win the award. The others were: Gervinho (2010, 2011) and Nicolas Pépé (2019) of Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama (2014) and Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal (2016).
Osimhen, who signed from Belgian side Charleroi on a five-year contract for a reported €12 million, scored 13 goals and provided four assists in 27 Ligue 1 games.
Osimhen’s performances have sparked speculation of a potential move away from Lille with clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Napoli all linked with him.
The Marc-Vivien Foé award is presented annually in memory of Cameroonian legend and former Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé. Foé collapsed and died during a FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final match between Cameroon and Colombia at Lyon’s Stade de Gerland in France on June 26 2003.
Other winners of the award are: Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux/Morocco) in 2009, Younès Belhanda (Montpellier/Morocco) in 2012, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Saint-Étienne/Gabon) in 2013, André Ayew (Marseille / Ghana), Sofiane Boufal (Lille/Morocco) in 2016, Jean Mickaël Seri (Nice/Côte d’Ivoire) in 2017 and Karl Toko-Ekambi (Angers SCO/Cameroon) in 2018.
