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Cameroon and Angers forward Karl Toko Ekambi has won the Marc-Vivien Foe Award for the best African player in France’s Ligue 1.
The 25-year-old won the prize ahead of Tunisia’s Whabi Khazri (Rennes) and Burkina Faso’s Bertrand Traore (Lyon).
Toko Ekambi becomes the Cameroonian winner of the award named in honour of his compatriot Foe, who who died after collapsing on the pitch in 2003.
He succeeds Ivory Coast’s Jean Michael Seri, who won the prize last year.
The France-born forward scored 17 goals for Angers this season to be the eighth highest scorer in Ligue 1.
“I’m proud to have won this title in front of players who play in big clubs in Ligue 1,” he told French radio station RFI, who organise the award with television station France 24.
He also paid tribute to the players who he beat to the award.
“I know them especially for playing against them. I do not know them personally. But I know that Bertrand Traore played in big clubs,” he added.
“He is young enough but he already has a good record and a lot of great clubs under his belt.
“And Wahbi Khazri is a major player in the French Championship. It’s a big season too.”
Toko Ekambi, who was part of the Cameroon squad that won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, has been at Angers since 2016 after joining them from Sochaux.
Previous winners of the Marc-Vivien Foe trophy:
2017: Jean Michael Seri (Ivory Coast, Nice)
2016: Sofiane Boufal (Morocco/Lille)
2015: Andre Ayew (Ghana/Marseille)
2014: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria/Lille)
2013: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Saint-Étienne)
2012: Younès Belhanda (Morocco/Montpellier)
2011: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2010: Gervinho (Ivory Coast/Lille)
2009: Marouane Chamakh (Morocco/Bordeaux)
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