Marc-Vivien Foé award: Super Eagles’ Simon loses out to Mali ace as Nigeria’s 5-year drought continues

Mali midfielder Mamadou Sangaré has become the first player from his country to win the prestigious Prix Marc-Vivien Foé after an outstanding season with RC Lens in the French Ligue 1, Afrik-Foot reports.

The 23-year-old beat Senegal internationals Lamine Camara of AS Monaco and Moussa Niakhaté of Olympique Lyonnais to claim the 2026 honour, organised jointly by Radio France Internationale and France 24.

Sangaré’s victory also extended Nigeria’s wait for another winner of the award to six years, with no Super Eagles player even making the final shortlist this season.

After arriving at Lens from Austrian side Rapid Vienna in a deal worth around €8 million last summer, Sangaré quickly became one of the most influential midfielders in France. He played 28 Ligue 1 matches, starting 26 of them, scoring three goals and adding four assists as Lens secured second place behind Paris Saint-Germain and qualified for next season’s UEFA Champions League.

His performances were not only about numbers. Sangaré controlled matches with his energy, ball-winning ability and forward passing. He also impressed for Mali during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations campaign after previously helping the country’s Under-23 side win bronze in 2023.

Lens paid tribute to the midfielder after the announcement, describing him as a worthy addition to the list of African stars who have worn the club’s colours. Sangaré becomes the third Lens player to win the award after Gaël Kakuta and Seko Fofana.

Mali rule as Simon’s unable to end Nigeria’s barren run

The result marked another frustrating year for Nigeria in the race for one of African football’s most respected individual prizes in Europe.

Moses Simon and Chidozie Awaziem both had decent campaigns in France but could not generate enough momentum to challenge for the award.

Simon joined Paris FC ahead of the 2025-26 season and brought top-flight experience to the newly-promoted side. The winger scored three goals and produced three assists in 28 Ligue 1 appearances.

One of his biggest moments came in Paris FC’s historic victory over Monaco, where Simon scored the winning goal to hand the club one of its most memorable results since returning to the French top division. Throughout the season, the Super Eagles winger remained one of the team’s main attacking outlets, regularly creating chances from wide areas.

However, Paris FC spent most of the campaign in the bottom half of the table, and Simon’s overall statistics were lower than the numbers he produced during his best years at FC Nantes.

Awaziem, meanwhile, returned to Nantes from Major League Soccer in July 2025 and immediately became a regular in defence. The centre-back made 26 league appearances and played more than 2,200 minutes during a difficult season for the club.

The Nigerian defender contributed one goal and two assists, but Nantes struggled for large parts of the campaign and eventually got relegated to Ligue 2 last week. Awaziem also picked up seven yellow cards as the team battled defensive inconsistency throughout the season.

Neither Simon nor Awaziem made the official 11-man shortlist for the award, a pointer to how difficult it has become for players outside Ligue 1’s top-performing clubs to challenge for the honour.

Nigeria has produced only two winners since the award was introduced in 2009. Legendary goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama became the first Nigerian to win it in 2014 after a remarkable season with Lille, where he kept 21 clean sheets and went more than 1,000 minutes without conceding a goal.

Six years later, Victor Osimhen claimed the prize after scoring 13 league goals for Lille during the 2019-20 season before sealing a big-money move to Napoli.

Since Osimhen’s triumph, Nigerian players have continued to feature in Ligue 1, but none have managed to reclaim the award. This year, the spotlight belonged firmly to Sangaré, whose brilliant season for Lens earned him a place in African football history.