Lyle Foster
South African soccer player (born 2000)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
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Foster with Burnley in 2025 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lyle Brent Foster[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 3 September 2000 | ||
| Place of birth | Carletonville, South Africa | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2] | ||
| Position | 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 | Monaco II | 8 | (3) |
| 2019–2020 | Monaco | 2 | (0) |
| 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 | 84 | (11) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2016 | South Africa U17 | 4 | (1) |
| 2017–2019 | South Africa U20 | 7 | (5) |
| 2019–2021 | South Africa U23 | 6 | (0) |
| 2018– | South Africa | 28 | (10) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 15:48, 4 March 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 17:11, 5 January 2026 (UTC) | |||
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, Foster 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]
International career
On 1 December 2025, Foster was called up to the South Africa squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.[22]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 3 March 2026
| 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[23] | South African Premiership | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Monaco II | 2018–19[23] | Championnat National 2 | 8 | 3 | — | — | — | 8 | 3 | |||
| Monaco | 2018–19[23] | Ligue 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019–20[23] | Ligue 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Cercle Brugge (loan) | 2019–20[23] | Belgian Pro League | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 1 | ||
| Vitória de Guimarães B | 2020–21[23] | Campeonato de Portugal | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| Vitória de Guimarães | 2020–21[23] | Primeira Liga | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |
| Westerlo (loan) | 2021–22[23] | Belgian First Division B | 23 | 4 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 26 | 5 | ||
| Westerlo | 2022–23[23] | Belgian Pro League | 21 | 8 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 21 | 8 | ||
| Burnley | 2022–23[23] | Championship | 11 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 1 | ||
| 2023–24[23] | Premier League | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 26 | 5 | ||
| 2024–25[23] | Championship | 28 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 31 | 3 | ||
| 2025–26[23] | Premier League | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 22 | 3 | ||
| Total | 84 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 94 | 12 | |||
| Career total | 174 | 28 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 192 | 30 | ||
- Includes Nedbank Cup, Belgian Cup, Taça de Portugal, FA Cup
- Includes Taça da Liga, EFL Cup
International
- As of match played 4 January 2026[24]
| 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 | |
| 2025 | 9 | 4 | |
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 28 | 10 |
- As of match played 29 December 2025
- South Africa score listed first, score column indicates score after each Foster goal[24]
| 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 | [25] |
| 2 | 24 March 2023 | Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa | 10 |  Liberia |
1–0 | 2–2 | 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification | [26] |
| 3 | 2–0 | |||||||
| 4 | 12 September 2023 | Orlando Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa | 12 |  DR Congo |
1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | [27] |
| 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 | |
| 8 | 5 September 2025 | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa | 21 |  Lesotho |
2–0 | 3–0 | 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification | |
| 9 | 22 December 2025 | Marrakesh Stadium, Marrakesh, Morocco | 25 |  Angola |
2–1 | 2–1 | 2025 Africa Cup of Nations | [28] |
| 10 | 29 December 2025 | Marrakesh Stadium, Marrakesh, Morocco | 27 |  Zimbabwe |
2–1 | 3–2 | 2025 Africa Cup of Nations | [29] |