Ivorian star pips Super Eagles forward to top French Ligue 1 award

Ivorian international, Seko Fofana has been voted as the Best African Player in the Ligue 1

RC Lens captain, Seko Fofana has beaten Super Eagles forward Moses Simon to the RFI Marc Vivien-Foe Award for the Best African Player in Ligue 1.

Fofana helped modest Lens to a 7th-placed finish, two seasons after they came from the second division, and scored 8 goals in 35 games this season.

He beat a group of other African top performers in the league including Gael Kakuta, Wahbi Khazri, Achraf Hakimi and others.

Fofana was chosen from a group of 12 players voted for by 100 sports journalists whose beats are African and French football.

The award was named after Marc Vivien-Foe, a former Cameroon international who died of a cardiac arrest at the 2001 Confederations Cup game against Colombia. The award was renamed in his honour ten years after his demise.

Vincent Enyeama, in 2014 won the award while Victor Osimhen in 2020 became the second Nigerian to win the award since 2010.

No African country has won the award more than Ivorians (4) and Moroccans (3) in over a decade.

Kakuta was the last recipient of the award and this year’s nominations also had Cameroon’s Karl Tojo-Ekambi, Senegal’s Idrissa Gueye, Malian star Hamari Traore, Morrocan Sofiane Boufal, Guinea’s Mohamed Bayo, Reims and Morocco defender Yunis Abdelhamid.

Others nominated for the award were Moroccan Nayef Aguerd and Gabon’s Mario Lemina.