Rwandan midfielder Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye was on Monday named winner of the Ebony Shoe award, a football award that recognises the best African or African origin player in the Belgian Pro League.

Ndayishimiye, 23, plays with Genk and was among five nominees who included his teammates Bilal El Khannouss from Morocco and Joseph Paintsil from Ghana.

He has been in electric form this season, providing 23 assists in 35 games - the highest in the league - and scoring eight goals.

He was born in Antwerp to a Burundian father, a former footballer, and a Rwandan mother and has played for Belgium U-21 team, But he is still eligible to play for Rwanda, the News Times Rwanda website reports.

The award, also known as Soulier d’Ebene, was introduced in 1992 and has been dominated by West African players. It's only been won twice by East Africans, Burundian-Rwandan Mohammed Chite (2007) of Anderlecht and Tanzanian Mbwana Samatta (2019) of Genk.