Super Eagles and K.R.C. Genk striker, Paul Onuachu, has been named the best African player in the Belgium top-flight league for the 2020/21 football season.

Onuachu won the Ebony Shoe award beating Club Brugge’s Clinton Mata (Angola) and Genk’s Theo Bongonda (DR Congo) to the prize.

According to Goal, the Ebony Shoe prize is an annual award given to the best African player in the Belgian Pro League.

Onuachu’s became the first Nigerian player to win the award twenty-five years after Celestine Babayaro won the prize in 1996.

The lanky striker is also the fifth Nigerian international to claim the prize after Daniel Amokachi (1992 and 1994), Victor Ikpeba (1993), Godwin Okpara (1995), and Celestine Babayaro (1996).

Having succeeded last year’s winner – Antwerp and Congo Democratic Republic forward Dieurmaci Mbokani – Onuachu became the fourth player from Genk to win the Ebony Shoe after Guinea’s Souleymane Oulare (1999), Burkina Faso’s Moumouni Dagano (2002) and Tanzania’s Mbwana Samatta (2019).

The award caps an outstanding season for the 27-year-old who was recently crowned the Professional Footballer of the Year and 2020/21 in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League as well as the highest goal scorer (Golden Bull Award) after netting 33 goals last season.

Despite having two years left on his current contract, Onuachu could however move on from Genk with European clubs believed to be interested in his services, thanks to his stellar performance last season.