Lyle Foster

Lyle Foster

Personal information
Full name	Lyle Brent Foster [1]
Date of birth	(2000-09-03) 3 September 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth	Soweto, South Africa
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [2]
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Burnley
Number	17
Youth career
0000–2017	Orlando Pirates
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017–2019	Orlando Pirates	9	(1)
2019–2020	Monaco	2	(0)
2019	→ Monaco II	8	(2)
2019–2020	→ Cercle Brugge (loan)	18	(1)
2020–2022	Vitória de Guimarães	5	(0)
2021	→ Vitória de Guimarães B	4	(0)
2021–2022	→ Westerlo (loan)	23	(4)
2022–2023	Westerlo	21	(8)
2023–	Burnley	43	(7)
International career‡
2016	South Africa U17	4	(1)
2017–2019	South Africa U20	7	(5)
2018	South Africa U23	2	(0)
2018–	South Africa	18	(6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:03, 7 October 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:37, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

Lyle Brent Foster (born 3 September 2000) is a South African professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL Championship club Burnley and the South Africa national team.

Club career

Foster was promoted to the Orlando Pirates' first team for the 2017–18 season. ^[3] On 15 September 2017, he made his professional debut against Maritzburg United. ^[4] He was named among English newspaper The Guardian's top 60 most promising young players in the world. ^[5] On 22 January 2018, he scored his first goal for Orlando Pirates in a 1–1 draw against Polokwane City. ^{[6] [7]}

He signed for Monaco in January 2019 on a deal until June 2023, ^[8] where he would begin on the reserve team. ^[9]

On 30 August 2019, Foster joined Monaco's feeder club Cercle Brugge in Belgium on a season-long loan. ^{[10] [11]}

On 13 August 2020, Foster joined Vitória de Guimarães for a transfer fee of 1.2 million euro. ^[12] In 2021, he joined Westerlo on a season-long loan with an option-to-buy. ^[13]

In the summer of 2022, Foster moved to Westerlo on a permanent basis and signed a four-year contract with the club. ^[14]

In January 2023, Foster signed for EFL Championship club Burnley on a four-and-a-half-year contract. ^[15] The transfer fee paid to Westerlo was reported as €7 million, a record for a South African player, which rose to €10 million after the Clarets guaranteed promotion to the Premier League. ^{[16] [17]}

On 26 October 2023, signed a new five-year contract with Burnley. ^[18] In November 2023, he was ruled out for an indefinite period following the reoccurrence of a mental health issue. ^[19] He made his return after a two month break when Burnley faced Everton ^[20] and went on to score in their final fixture of the year against Aston Villa. ^[21]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 5 October 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [a]		League cup [b]		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Orlando Pirates	2017–18 [22]	South African Premier Division	9	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
Monaco II	2018–19 [22]	Championnat National 2	8	2	—		—		—		8	2
Monaco	2018–19 [22]	Ligue 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2019–20 [22]	Ligue 1	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
	Total		2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
Cercle Brugge (loan)	2019–20 [22]	Belgian Pro League	18	1	1	0	—		—		19	1
Vitória de Guimarães B	2020–21 [22]	Campeonato de Portugal	4	0	—		—		—		4	0
Vitória de Guimarães	2020–21 [22]	Primeira Liga	5	0	1	0	1	0	—		7	0
Westerlo (loan)	2021–22 [22]	Belgian First Division B	23	4	3	1	—		—		26	5
Westerlo	2022–23 [22]	Belgian Pro League	21	8	0	0	—		—		21	8
Burnley	2022–23 [22]	Championship	11	1	4	0	—		—		15	1
	2023–24 [22]	Premier League	24	5	1	0	1	0	—		26	5
	2024–25 [22]	Championship	8	1	0	0	1	0	—		9	1
	Total		43	7	5	0	2	0	—		50	7
Career total			133	22	12	1	3	0	0	0	148	24

1. Includes Nedbank Cup, Belgian Cup, Taça de Portugal, FA Cup
2. Includes Taça da Liga, EFL Cup

International

As of match played 11 October 2024 ^[23]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Africa	2018	3	0
	2020	2	0
	2021	1	0
	2022	3	1
	2023	5	3
	2024	4	2
Total	18	6

As of match played 11 October 2024

South Africa score listed first, score column indicates score after each Foster goal ^[23]

List of international goals scored by Lyle Foster

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	9 June 2022	Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat, Morocco	9	Morocco	1–0	1–2	2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification	[24]
2	24 March 2023	Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	10	Liberia	1–0	2–2	2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification	[25]
3					2–0
4	12 September 2023	Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	12	DR Congo	1–0	1–0	Friendly	[26]
5	6 September 2024	Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	16	Uganda	1–0	2–2	2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
6	11 October 2024	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha, South Africa	18	Congo	4–0	5–0	2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

Honours

Westerlo

• Belgian First Division B: 2021–22 ^[27]

Burnley

• EFL Championship: 2022–23

South Africa U20

• COSAFA U-20 Cup:2017 ^[28]

References

1. "FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019: List of Players: South Africa" (PDF). FIFA. 13 June 2019. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2020.
2. "L. Foster: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
3. "Pirates promote 17-year old Foster - Orlando Pirates FC". www.orlandopiratesfc.com. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
4. "Augustine Mahlonoko - Remember the Name - Orlando Pirates FC". www.orlandopiratesfc.com. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
5. "Pirates youngster named among world's best young talents". The Citizen (Zambia). 10 October 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
6. "Bucs held at home - Orlando Pirates FC". www.orlandopiratesfc.com. 20 January 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
7. "Foster Opens his account - Orlando Pirates FC". www.orlandopiratesfc.com. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
8. "Lyle Foster joins AS Monaco". AS Monaco. 2 January 2019. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
9. Okeleji, Oluwashina (2 January 2019). "Lyle Foster: South African teenager signs for Monaco". BBC. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
10. "Panzo and Foster join Cercle Brugge". AS Monaco. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
11. "JONATHAN PANZO EN LYLE FOSTER NAAR CERCLE BRUGGE!" (Press release) (in Dutch). Cercle Brugge. 30 August 2019.
12. "Foster garantido por 5 épocas" (in Portuguese). Vitória S.C. 13 August 2020. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
13. "Lyle Foster emprestado ao KVC Westerlo" (in European Portuguese). Vitória Sport Clube. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
14. "Lyle Foster signs for 4 seasons". Westerlo. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
15. "Clarets-capture-foster". Burnley. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
16. Dindi, Sithembiso (25 January 2023). "Lyle Foster scores big move to Burnley for reported SA transfer record". Times Live. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
17. "Burnley promoted to Premier League after Roberts sinks Middlesbrough". The Guardian. 7 April 2023. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 October 2023.
18. "FOSTER SIGNS NEW LONG-TERM DEAL!". Burnley FC. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
19. "Foster ruled out over mental health issue". BBC Sport. 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
20. "Burnley vs Everton Match Report". BBC Sport. 16 December 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
21. "Aston Villa vs Burnley Match Report". BBC Sport. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
22. Lyle Foster at Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
23. Lyle Foster at National-Football-Teams.com
24. "Morocco 2-1 South Africa (9 Jun, 2022) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
25. "South Africa 2-2 Liberia (24 Mar, 2023) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
26. "South Africa 1-0 Congo DR (12 Sep, 2023) Final Score". ESPN. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
27. "Welcome back les Campinois" (in French). Belgian Pro League. 2 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
28. "South Africa retain COSAFA Under-20 Championship title with shoot-out win". 13 December 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2024.