Revealed: Why Moffi was not nominated for the Marc-Vivien Foe prize

The 21-year-old is not among the 11 nominees for the prestigious award despite his brilliant performance in his first season in the French top-flight

Terem Moffi missed out on a place in the nominees’ list for this year’s Marc-Vivien Foe award as he is not a Nigerian international yet.

The Marc-Vivien Foe award is dedicated to the late Cameroon international and awarded to the best African player in the French Ligue 1.

Napoli’s Victor Osimhen won the award last year when he was still at Lille, and Moffi was in pole position to succeed his international compatriot.

Moffi has arguably been the best African player in the French top-flight this season, having scored 14 goals in 28 league appearances for Lorient.

However, it’s still not enough to earn him a nomination for the Marc-Vivien Foe award because he is yet to make his Super Eagles debut.

Only players that have played for their national teams are eligible for the award, and that rules Moffi out. French journalists had hoped he would make his debut in March, but he never got to play.

The former KV Kortrijk striker was among the players on standby for Nigeria’s March Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Still, he wouldn’t have made it if he was on the original list as Lorient could not release him due to Covid-19 restrictions. 

Nonetheless, Moffi will hope to be in the Super Eagles squad when they start their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign in June.