Nigeria international Victor Osimhen of French club Lille has been declared winner of this year’s Marc-Vivien Foé Prize, an annual award which honours the best African footballer in Ligue 1.
The 21-year-old striker becomes the youngest winner of the prize which was launched in 2009 by RFI and France 24 to pay homage to the late Cameroon international, Marc-Vivien Foé, who collapsed while playing with the Indomitable Lions against Colombia in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Lyon, France on June 26, 2003.
Osimhen, who scored 13 goals and delivered four assists in 27 matches during his first season in the French elite division, raked 284 points from the 79 journalists who participated in the vote, according to the organisers.
The second-placed is Monaco’s Islam Slimani, who received 95 points, while Morocco defender Yunis Abdelhamid came third with 89 points.
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After Vincent Enyeama in 2014, Osimhen becomes the second Nigerian to win the award. His club Lille has produced five past winners – Gervinho (2010 and 2011), Enyeama (2014, Sofiane Boufal (2016) and Nicholas Pépé.
Complete List
- Victor OSIMHEN (Nigeria/Lille LOSC) – 284 points
- Islam SLIMANI (Algeria/AS Monaco) – 95 points
- Yunis ABDELHAMID (Morocco/Stade de Reims) – 89 points
- Habib DIALLO (Senegal/FC Metz) – 52 points
- M’Baye NIANG (Senegal/Stade rennais) – 43 points
- Idrissa GUEYE (Senegal/Paris SG) – 37 points
-. Hamari TRAORÉ (Mali/Stade rennais) – 37 points
- Denis BOUANGA (Gabon/AS Saint-Etienne) – 27 points
- Edouard MENDY (Senegal/Stade rennais) – 24 points
- Andy DELORT (Algeria/Montpellier HSC) – 13 points
- Moses SIMON (Nigeria/FC Nantes) – 10 points
