The 26-year-old is the joint top-scorer in the Belgian top-flight so far this season with 23 goals.

Previous winners of the award, for Belgium's best African player or player of African descent, include Manchester City's Vincent Kompany.

The first winner was Nigeria's Daniel Amokachi in 1992 and he won again two years later.

Morocco's Mbark Boussouffa is the only player to have won the award three times.

Other former winners include Belgium internationals Marouane Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku, Michy Batshuayi and more recently Youri Tielemens as well Egypt's Mido.

Lukaku's father Roger, a former Zaire international, was third behind Amokachi when the former Nigeria captain won the award in 1994.

Samatta, who signed for Genk from TP Mazembe, in January 2016, was the leading scorer with 20 goals in the regular season in Belgium

He has since added three more goals in the championship play-offs and is level with Tunisia and Zulte Waregem's Hamdi Harbaoui.

Genk are in pole position to win the Belgian title with a six-point lead ahead of Club Brugge in the six-team play-offs with three games left this season.

He also scored three for the Belgian side in their Europa League campaign, including two against Besiktas in a 4-2 win in Turkey.

As well as his feats in Belgium he has also captained his country to qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time in 39 years.

Meanwhile Brighton's on loan South Africa forward Percy Tau was voted as Player of the Season in the Belgian second tier after impressing with Union Saint-Gilloise.