Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has been voted Africa’s best player in France after his first season in the country’s elite football league.
Osimhen joined French Ligue 1 in July 2019 and has gone on to score 18 goals in all competitions to become Lille’s highest goal scorer in the 2019/2020 season which was terminated in April following a protracted suspension caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
| Competitions | Goals | Assists |
| Ligue 1 | 13 | 5 |
| Champions League | 2 | NIL |
| Coupe de la Ligue | 2 | 1 |
| Coupe de France | 1 | NIL |
| TOTAL | 18 | 6 |
The lanky striker becomes the second Nigerian after former Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to win the coveted Marc Vivien Foe Award.
Two Lille players have now won the award for two consecutive seasons after Nicholas Pepe scooped that of the 2018/2019 season before departing to Arsenal.
French news outlet RFI and France 24 organize the annual award in memory of Cameroonian great and former Olympique Lyonnais midfield maestro Marc Vivien Foe of Blessed memory.
The 21-year-old beat Senegal’s Islam Slimani of Monaco (95 points) and Morocco’s Yunis Abdelhamid of Stade de Reims (89 points) with a landslide 284 points to scoop the award.
Voting Results For Marc Vivien Foe (Ligue 1 Best African Player) Award
1. Victor OSIMHEN (Nigeria/Lille LOSC) – 284 points
2. Islam SLIMANI (Algeria/AS Monaco) – 95 points
3. Yunis ABDELHAMID (Morocco/Stade de Reims) – 89 points
4. Habib DIALLO (Senegal/FC Metz) – 52 points
5. M’Baye NIANG (Senegal/Stade rennais) – 43 points
6. Idrissa GUEYE (Senegal/Paris SG) – 37 points
7. Hamari TRAORÉ (Mali/Stade Rennais) – 37 points
8. Denis BOUANGA (Gabon/AS Saint-Etienne) – 27 points
9. Edouard MENDY (Senegal/Stade rennais) – 24 points
10. Andy DELORT (Algeria/Montpellier HSC) – 13 points
11. Moses SIMON (Nigeria/FC Nantes) – 10 points
Previous winners of Marc Vivien Foe Award
| S/N | Player name | Year | Club | Country |
| 1 | Marouane Chamakh | 2009 | Bordeaux | Morocco |
| 2 | Yao Gervinho | 2010 | Lille | Côte d’Ivoire |
| 3 | Yao Gervinho | 2011 | Lille | Côte d’Ivoire |
| 4 | Younès Belhanda | 2012 | Montpellier | Morocco |
| 5 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 2013 | Saint-Etienne | Gabon |
| 6 | Vincent Enyeama | 2014 | Lille | Nigeria |
| 7 | André Ayew | 2015 | Marseille | Ghana |
| 8 | Sofiane Boufal | 2016 | Lille | Morocco |
| 9 | Jean Mickaël Seri | 2017 | Nice | Ivory Coast |
| 10 | Karl Toko-Ekambi | 2018 | Angers SCO | Cameroon |
| 11 | Nicolas Pepe | 2019 | Lille | Ivory Coast |
| 12 | Victor Osimhen | 2020 | Lille | Nigeria |
