The 27-year-old claimed the award on Wednesday night after scoring an incredible 29 league goals over the entire 2020-21 season and adding another 12 in the first half of the current campaign.  Onuachu gathered 333 votes to beat the Club Brugge duo of Noa Lang (272 votes) and Charles De Ketelaere (271 votes) to second and third, respectively.

Three Africans, Ivory Coast’s Aruna Dindane in 2003, Morocco’s Mbark Boussoufa twice in 2006 and 2010, and Democratic Republic of Congo’s Dieumerci Mbokani in 2012, had previously won the award.

Last year, Onuachu finished in third place in the running for the Golden Shoe, coming behind winner Israeli star Lior Refaelov and second-placed Raphael Holzhauser.

The win on Wednesday night, also saw him become the third Genk player in history to be named Belgium’s best and the first in 20 years.

The former Midtjylland star is currently recovering from an injury that kept him out of the Nigerian squad to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

According to Belgian news hub, HLN Sport, all players of the club were tested on Tuesday, July 7, in the run-up to the first friendly game ahead of the new season. They all tested negative except Onuachu.

The 26-year-old who made his Super Eagles debut last year had only recently returned to his Belgian club for pre-season after he accompanied Victor Osimhen for his father’s burial in Nigeria.

Onuachu will now miss Genk’s first exhibition game of the season against Eendracht Termien on Thursday, July 9, as he will be quarantined for a week. Onuachu joined Genk from Danish club FC Midtjylland in August 2019.

Many expected the Super Eagles to roll over the Swallows but this was a hard fought victory for the Eagles as players like Abdulrasak and Saido Beranhio, threaten the Eagles goal line from time to time but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Second half substitute Odion Ighalo scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute, just few minutes after replacing Paul Onuachu, after latching onto Ola Aina’s wonderful back-heeled pass and coolly whipped the ball past Jonathan Nahimana.