Super Eagles forward, Paul Onuachu has been voted winner of the 2021 Belgian Golden Shoe award.
The 27-year-old becomes the first-ever Nigerian and the fourth African to claim the prestigious honour in Belgium.
Aruna Dindane of Cote d’Ivoire, won it in 2003, Morocco’s Mbark Boussoufa, who won in 2006 and 2010 and DR Congo’s Dieumerci Mbokani, who won in 2012, are the only other Africans to have won the award.
The Belgian Golden Shoe award is given at the beginning of each year to the best footballer in the country’s First Division for the past year.
Onuachu polled 333 votes to beat the Club Brugge duo of Noa Lang (272 votes) and Charles De Ketelaere (271 votes) to second and third, respectively.
He finished in third position in the 2020 award edition, coming behind winner Lior Refaelov of Israel and second-placed Raphael Holzhauser.
But emerged winner this time around after scoring 29 league goals over the entire 2020-21 season and adding another 12 in the first half of the current campaign.
With the win, Onuachu becomes only the third Genk player in history to be named Belgium’s best and the first in 20 years.
The forward could not join his national teammates at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after sustaining a hamstring injury weeka before the Cameroon tournament.
