The 27-year-old has been rewarded for his outstanding goalscoring record in the Belgian top-flight last season
Onuachu was crowned at a ceremony on Wednesday night as he beat off Club Brugge duo Noa Lang and Charles Des Ketelaere to the award.
The 2021 award recognises the Super Eagles star's performances for the 2020-21 season where he finished as the First Division A top scorer with 33 goals in 38 matches.
Onuachu becomes the fourth African star to be win the award after DR Congo's Dieumerci Mbokani, Ivory Coast's Aruna Dindane and Morocco's Mbark Boussoufa.
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Last year, he finished third in the annual award ranking and Genk chairman Peter Croonen has described his latest success as a boost for the team and the player himself.
“Honestly, I'm surprised,” Croonen told the award organisers. “I would of course have been incredibly sorry if Paul had not won, but for some reason, I had the unexpected. Now I'm really happy because it's well deserved for Onuachu too.”
“Paul is someone who deserves and appreciates every prize. Paul is a collective thinker: he wants to be important for the whole team with his goals, but this individual award is also a recognition that will make him very happy.
“We haven't seen statistics like that of Paul at Genk for a long time. Paul is not only important for his offensive performance but also invaluable defensively.
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