June 08, (THEWILL)- Nigeria’s hottest football product of the moment, Racing Genk’s Paul Onuachu, the Super Eagles striker that set the Belgian League afire in the just concluded season has now ended a 25-year wait for another Nigerian to bring home the prestigious Ebony Shoe award.
By clinching the award, Onuachu has cleared the awards season in every category he entered and only adds the Ebony Shoe to his Golden Boot and Player of the Season honours earned at the end of the 2020/2021 campaign in the Belgian top-flight football.
Not since 1996, when Celestine Babayaro won the award, has any Nigerian in Belgium won the Ebony shoe, which is an award given to the best African players or players of African origin playing in Belgium’s Jupiler League, until Onuachu.
In competition for the award against Onuachu were Genk teammate, Théo Bongonda, Club Brugge’s Clinton Mata, Anderlecht’s duo of Lukas Nmecha and Albert Sambi but the mercurial Nigerian beat them all to become the fourth Nigerian to win the award after Babayaro, Godwin Okpara and Daniel Amokachi, who won the inaugural award in 1992.
Onuachu succeeds DR Congo’s Dieumerci Mbokani, who won the award last year, as striker for the Pro League club Royal Antwerp.
The 27-year-old Super Eagles forward continues to reap the rewards of a proper brilliant season in Belgian football. With his 35 total goal-haul in all competitions, the former Midtjylland striker helped Genk win the Belgian Cup and finish second in the league accompanied by compatriot Cyril Dessers.
He ended up the 2020/2021 season with a record-setting performance because Onuachu’s 33 league goals for Genk is the most any player has managed in the Belgian top-flight this century and that is a sensational summation of his influence in Belgium.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
