Lyle Foster

❧

Wikipedia

Lyle Foster
Personal information
Full name Lyle Brent Foster[1]
Date of birth (2000-09-03) 3 September 2000 (age 24)
Place of birth Carletonville, South Africa
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Burnley
Number 9
Youth career
–2017 Orlando Pirates
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Orlando Pirates 11 (1)
2019–2020 AS Monaco 3 (6)
2019 → Monaco II 8 (3)
2019–2020 → AS Monaco (loan) 35 (17)
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 64 (8)
International career‡
2016 South Africa U17 4 (1)
2017–2019 South Africa U20 7 (5)
2018 South Africa U23 2 (0)
2018– South Africa 20 (7)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11:55, 18 August 2025 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 19:00, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

Lyle Brent Foster (born 3 September 2000) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Premier League 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 16 August 2025
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 91200000111
Monaco II 2018–19[22] Championnat National 2 8 3 — — — 8 3
Monaco 2018–19[22] Ligue 1 000000—00
2019–20[22] Ligue 1 200000—20
Total 200000—20
Cercle Brugge (loan) 2019–20[22] Belgian Pro League 18110——191
Vitória de Guimarães B 2020–21[22] Campeonato de Portugal 4 0 — — — 4 0
Vitória de Guimarães 2020–21[22] Primeira Liga 501010—70
Westerlo (loan) 2021–22[22] Belgian First Division B 23431——265
Westerlo 2022–23[22] Belgian Pro League 21800——218
Burnley 2022–23[22] Championship 11140——151
2023–24[22] Premier League 2451010—265
2024–25[22] Championship 2822110—313
2025–26[22] Premier League 100000—10
Total 6487120—739
Career total 15425142300017127

International

As of match played 25 March 2025[23]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
South Africa 201830
202020
202110
202231
202353
202442
202521
Total207
As of match played 25 March 2025
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
7 25 March 2025 Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 20  Benin 1–0 2–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Westerlo

Burnley

South Africa U20

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lyle Foster at Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  23. 1 2 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.