Ivory Coast international Seko Fofana has beaten off competition from Moses Simon among several others to be named Ligue 1 African player of the year. The RC Lens midfielder received the Prix Marc-Vivien Foe award on Monday in appreciation of his performance as the best African player in France’s top division during the 2021/2022 season.
Fofana saw off the likes of Nantes’s Moses Simon, Rennes’ Hamari Traoré (Mali), Saint-Etienne’s Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia), and Paris Saint-Germain duo Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) and Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), who were among the 12 nominees.
The award is named after former Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, who died at the age of 28 after collapsing on the field during a match against Colombia in 2003.
Vincent Enyeama earned the accolade in 2014 while at Lille, becoming the first Nigerian to do so. The only other Nigerian to receive the honor is Victor Osimhen. He won it in his sole season with Lille in 2020.
Simon, 26, is having an impressive campaign in France with Nantes. The winger has 6 goals and 8 assists in 30 Ligue 1 games this season. He helped Nantes win the French Cup, where they defeated Nice in the final earlier this month. As a result of the victory, Nantes will play in the Europa League next season.
