PAUL Onuachu has been named the Golden Shoe award in Belgium for 2021.
The Super Eagles striker thus becomes the first Nigerian in history to win the award, which is given to the best player in the Belgian Pro League for the calendar year.
Despite the likes of Daniel Amokachi, Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasia and other prominent Nigerian players featuring in the Belgian top flight over the years, it has taken Onuachu to finally win the award for the country.
Onuachu is also the fourth African to win the prestigious prize, after Cote d’Ivoire’s Aruna Dindane in 2003, Morocco’s Mbark Boussoufa in 2006 and 2010, and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Dieumerci Mbokani in 2012.
Racing Genk striker Onuachu received 333 votes to win the award ahead of Club Brugge pair Noa Lang (272 votes) and Charles De Ketelaere (271 votes).
The 27-year-old Nigeria international, who finished third in the 2020 poll for the award, scored 29 league goals in the 2020-21 season and has already produced another 12 in the first half of the ongoing campaign.
Onuachu, who is only the third Genk player in history to win the award and the first in 20 years, missed out on Nigeria’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations squad through injury.
