Super Eagles star, Victor Osimhen, has won the 2020 Marc-Vivien Foe prize, seeing off competition from compatriot, Simon Moses of Nantes. 

Other players who were also in contention for the prize include Denis Bouanga (Saint-Etienne), Andy Delort (Montpellier), Islam Slimani (Monaco), Rennes’ trio of Mbaye Niang, Hamari Traore and Edouard Mendy.

Osimhen’s club, Lille congratulated the Nigerian on the award in a tweet on their handle.

“King Victor Osimhen!” Lille said. “Congrats to our Super Eagles striker who wins the 2020 Prix Marc Vivien Foe [prize]  as the best African player in Ligue 1.”

‘An Honour’

Speaking after winning the award, the player described it as an honour, adding that it is great for the prize to stay in Lille.

“That makes me very happy,” he told Radio France International (RFI). “It is an honor to be among the winners of this Prize, when we see those who received it before me, like Nicolas Pépé last year.

Pepe, from Ivory Coast, won the prize last year while at Lille.

The award is in honor of Marc-Vivien Foé (who slumped while playing for Cameroon in a Confederations Cup semi-final match on 26 June, 2003).

Instant Impact

Since joining Lille from Sporting Charleroi in Belgium, as a replacement for Ivory Coast star, Nicolas Pepe (who moved to Arsenal) last summer, Osimhen has scored 18 goals and six assists in 38 games.

He is the second Nigerian, after Vincent Enyeama (2014), to win the Marc-Vivien Foe prize.