Rwandan midfielder Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye was on Monday awarded the 2022/23 Ebony show award in a colorful awarding ceremony held in Brussels, Belgium.
The trophy, commonly known as Soulier d’Ebene, is awarded annually to the best African footballer or footballer of African origin featuring in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.
Ndayishimiye, 23, was in the race for the top accolade alongside club teammates Joseph Paintsil from Ghana, El Khannouss from Morocco as well as Nigerian duo of Victor Boniface and Gift Orban who play for Union Saint Gilloise and Gent respectively.
Ndayishimiye has been in electric form for Genk this campaign, providing an incredible 23 assists in 35 games and scoring 8 goals.
Born to a Burundian father Freddy Ndayishimiye, a former footballer,and a Rwandan mother in Antwerp, Ndayishimiye has played for Belgium at U21 level but he is still eligible to play for the country of his parents.
He has already been approached by Amavubi head coach Carlos Alos Ferrer to play for Rwanda though a response is yet to be given.
Since the Ebony Award’s inception in 1992, Burundian-Rwandan Mohammed Chite (2007), a former striker for Anderlecht, and Tanzanian Mbwana Samatta (2019) are the only players from East Africa to have previously won the award.
