Peter Utaka has become the first Nigerian player to be named the J1 League joint top scorer with Brazil’s Leandro Montera da Silva after scoring 19 goals for his club Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Utaka who joined Hajime Moriyasu’s men from Shimizu S-Pulse on loan in January has made a virtue out of necessity for the Sanfrecce despite finishing 10th on the league table with 26 points from 17 games.

The 32-year-old attacker won the top scorer prize in the Belgian second division with Royal Antwerp in the 2007/2008 season before repeating the feat in the Danish Super League with Odense Boldkulb in the 2009/2010 season.

The former Beijing Guoan player who is set to return to Shimizu S-Pulse in January becomes the second African player to win the prestigious Japanese award after Cameroonian Patrick Mboma who scored 25 goals for Gamba Osaka in the 1997 season.