69th Golden Shoe goes to Mignolet and Evrard

The 69th Golden Shoe, the trophy for the best footballer on Belgian fields in 2022, has been won by Club Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and OH Leuven goalkeeper Nicky Evrard. Kevin De Bruyne has been voted the best Belgian abroad of 2022.

Red Flame Nicky Evrard has won the Golden Shoe for the first time in her career. The Oud-Heverlee Leuven goalkeeper stayed ahead of Tessa Wullaert (Anderlecht/Fortuna Sittard) and her teammate Sari Kees. ​
​​
​Evrard swapped AA Gent for OH Leuven last summer, despite interest from abroad. OHL is the current frontrunner in the Lotto Super League. As goalkeeper of the Belgian football women, she helped write national sporting history in 2022. The Red Flames reached a historic place in the quarter-finals at the European Championships and owed this emphatically to the 27-year-old Evrard, who shook some clever saves out of her hands and stopped two penalties.

Among the men, Simon Mignolet totally lives up to his favourites. He wins with the biggest lead ever in the history of this election. He got 451 points more than teammate Casper Nielsen (last season's Union. Mike Trésor finished third with 521 fewer points.
​The 34-year-old goalkeeper, who succeeds Paul Onuachu (Genk), is the sixth goalkeeper on the list of honours and the first since 1989 when Michel Preud'homme triumphed as KV Mechelen's closing goalie.

Kevin De Bruyne has been voted the best Belgian abroad of 2022. De Bruyne played a top season at Manchester City, but still somewhat surprisingly pulls ahead of Thibaut Courtois, who won the Champions League and became champion in Spain. The difference is 94 points.

Three wins for Genk

No surprise in the election of Trainer of the Year. Wouter Vrancken is the successor to Felice Mazzu. The Racing Genk coach makes it ahead of Mazzu and Karel Geraerts.
​After a good 2021-2022 season at KV Mechelen, he successfully made the switch to Genk in the summer. He blew new life into the Limburg club and is currently leading the Jupiler Pro League.

The Promise of the Year also came from Genk. Although Bilal El Khannouss had only one point over Charles De Ketelaere, the winner of the two previous editions. In third place finishes Matisse Samoise. El Khannous grew to become a star player in Genk's midfield in recent months, leading the Jupiler Pro League. It even earned the midfielder a selection for the World Cup in Qatar last autumn.

And the third price for Genk goes to Bryan Heynen's goal against Antwerp which has been voted the most beautiful goal of 2022.

^{Simon Mignolet and Nicky Evrard are the best Belgian soccer players in 2022 and win the Goldens Shoe trophy. The Golden Shoe is an award for the best soccer player of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League championship during the year 2022. ​ On Wednesday 25 January 2023 in Antwerp , BELGIUM . © BELGA PHOTO SPORTPIX | David Catry}