Lyle Brent Foster (born 3 September 2000) is a South African professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

and the South Africa national team.

Club career

Foster was promoted to the

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

' first team for the 2017–18 season. On 15 September 2017, he made his professional debut against

Maritzburg United Durban City are a South African soccer club based in the city of Durban. Prior to the start of the 2024–25 National First Division, they were called Maritzburg United, and were based in the city of Pietermaritzburg. They were promoted to t ...

. He was named among English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

's'' top 60 most promising young players in the world. On 22 January 2018, he scored his first goal for Orlando Pirates in a 1–1 draw against

Polokwane City Polokwane City Football Club is a South African professional football club based in the city of Polokwane in the Limpopo province that currently plays in the first tier South African Premiership. The team plays its home matches at the Peter Mok ...

. He signed for

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

in January 2019 on a deal until June 2023, where he would begin on the reserve team. On 30 August 2019, Foster joined Monaco's feeder club

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

in Belgium on a season-long loan. On 13 August 2020, Foster joined

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

for a transfer fee of 1.2 million euro. In 2021, he joined

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

on a season-long loan with an option-to-buy. In the summer of 2022, Foster moved to

on a permanent basis and signed a four-year contract with the club. In January 2023, Foster signed for EFL Championship club

on a four-and-a-half-year contract. 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 The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. On 26 October 2023, signed a new five-year contract with Burnley. In November 2023, he was ruled out for an indefinite period following the reoccurrence of a

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

issue. He made his return after a two month break when Burnley faced Everton and went on to score in their final fixture of the year against Aston Villa.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''South Africa score listed first, score column indicates score after each Foster goal''

Honours

Westerlo *

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League, previously known as 1B Pro League is the second-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was created by the ...

: 2021–22 Burnley *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

South Africa U20 *

COSAFA U-20 Cup The COSAFA Under 20 Challenge is an annual tournament for under 20 teams from Southern Africa organized by COSAFA Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (; ), officially abbreviated as COSAFA, is an association of the football playin ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Lyle 2000 births Living people South African men's soccer players Soccer players from Soweto Men's association football forwards Orlando Pirates F.C. players AS Monaco FC players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Vitória S.C. players Vitória S.C. B players K.V.C. Westerlo players Burnley F.C. players South African Premier Division players Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players Primeira Liga players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Challenger Pro League players English Football League players Premier League players South Africa men's international soccer players South African expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal South African expatriate sportspeople in Monaco South African expatriate sportspeople in Belgium South African expatriate sportspeople in Portugal South Africa men's youth international soccer players South Africa men's under-20 international soccer players 21st-century South African sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England