Osimhen wins Marc-Vivien Foe Award

Lille Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has been named winner of the Marc-Vivien Foe Award presented to the best African player in the French Ligue 1.

The award is under the auspices of RFI English-France 24 English.

Osimhen is the youngest-ever winner of the award at 21, and emerged tops in a poll of about 100 football experts across the media to succeed former Lille man Nicolas Pepe, the Ivory Coast international who joined Arsenal last summer from Lille.

Algeria striker Islam Slimani, who spent last season on loan at Monaco, came second with Reims’ Morocco international defender Yunis Abdelhamid third.

Eagles winger Moses Simon of FC Nantes finished 11th in the voting.

Osimhen’s 13 league goals (18 goals in 38 games in all competitions) in his maiden season in France helped Lille finish fourth in Ligue 1, and he also made a significant impact in the UEFA Champions League, where he scored twice in six games.

The 21-year-old is also the leading scorer in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers with three goals.

He has been linked with a big-money move away from Lille.

Osimhen has already scooped the Best Player of the Season at his club. Punch