Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe

Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (born 21 February 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Gent in the Belgian First Division A.[1]

Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe
Personal information
Full name Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe
Date of birth (1989-02-21) 21 February 1989
Place of birth Ghent, Belgium
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Gent
Number 8
Youth career
1994–1999 Gent
1999–2007 Anderlecht
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2008 Anderlecht 3 (1)
2008–2009 Hamburger SV 2 (0)
2008–2009 Hamburger SV II 12 (0)
2009–2014 Club Brugge 181 (22)
2014–2016 Norwich City 15 (0)
2015–2016 → Rotherham United (loan) 4 (1)
2016–2017 Legia Warsaw 31 (4)
2017–2018 Olympiacos 18 (2)
2018– Gent 29 (4)
National team
2004 Belgium U15 3 (0)
2007 Belgium U18 3 (0)
2007 Belgium U19 9 (3)
2007–2009 Belgium U21 10 (0)
2010–2012 Belgium 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 September 2019

Club career

Odjidja-Ofoe joined his local team Gent at the age of five. He played for Anderlecht. He was part of the 2006–07 Anderlecht reserves team that won the reserves championship. In the 2007–08 season, he was promoted to the first team of Anderlecht. On 22 December 2007, he scored his first goal on his full debut for RSCA against Mons.

In January 2008, he was signed by Hamburger SV.[2] On 9 January 2009, he left Hamburg and moved for €900,000 to Club Brugge K.V. after one year in the Bundesliga.[3]

Odjidja-Ofoe completed his move to English Championship side Norwich City, in August 2014. He made his league debut for Norwich City on 16 September 2014 after coming on as a substitute in an away league match against Brentford.[4] Injury hampered much of Odjidja-Ofoe's first season at Norwich City as they gained promotion to the Premier League. In September 2015, Odjidja-Ofoe moved to Rotherham United on a one-month loan, making four appearances and scoring one goal against Cardiff City.[5]

In August 2016, Odjidja-Ofoe was transferred to Legia Warsaw for an undisclosed fee.[6] Scoring 5 goals and giving 14 assists in 42 official appearances with Legia Warsaw during the 2016–17 season, he was named Ekstraklasa Player of the Season and Midfielder of the Season.

On 9 July 2017, Olympiacos officially announced the purchase of central midfielder Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe from Legia Warsaw, for an estimated amount of €2.5 million. The 28-year-old Belgian international signed a three-years' contract with the team managed by Besnik Hasi.[7][8] On 16 August 2017, he scored his first goal with the club, as Olympiakos come from behind, in first half, to win 2–1 Rijeka in added time for the 1st leg of UEFA Champions League play-offs.[9] On 22 November 2017 in an away 3–1 loss UEFA Champions League Group stage game against Sporting, Odjidja-Ofoe bagged the only goal of the Reds.[10]

On 21 July 2018, Gent officially announced the acquisition of Ofoe from Olympiacos on a two-year contract.[11] Before the end of the previous season, Olympiacos had put the player out of Pedro Martins' plans for the coming season, forcing him to find a club to continue his career. Odjidja-Ofoe came close to Sporting Lisbon, but the change in the executive staff of the club and the immediate removal of Siniša Mihajlović broke down the Belgian player's transfer to the Portuguese team. Eventually, the 29-year-old returned to his home country on behalf of Gent, with the transfer fee close to €2.2 million.[12]

International career

Odjidja was called up to the Belgium national under 23 team for the 2008 Summer Olympics tournament. He participated in two games; a group stage win over hosts China and a 4–1 semi-final defeat against Nigeria.

In November 2010, he applied for a Ghanaian passport and suggested that he could be considered for representing Ghana at international football in the future.[13] On 17 November, he made his debut for Belgium in an international friendly versus Russia. He came on as a substitute for Eden Hazard in the 90th minute.

He made his second appearance for Belgium in an UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying game against Azerbaijan in March 2011, again coming on as a substitute in the 90th minute, this to replace Steven Defour. He replaced Defour again in a Belgium game versus Kazakhstan in his third international outing replacing him in the 63rd minute. As a result of playing in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying games, Odjidja is no longer eligible to play for Ghana.

Career statistics
As of 15 May 2018[14][15][16][17]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Anderlecht 2006–07 Belgian First Division A 000000001010
2007–08 Belgian First Division A 311000000041
Total 311000001051
Hamburger SV 2007–08 Bundesliga 200000100030
Total 200000100030
Hamburger SV II 2007–08 Regionalliga 800000000080
2008–09 Reggionaliga 400000000040
Total 12000000000120
Club Brugge 2008–09 Belgian First Division A 16000000000160
2009–10 Belgian First Division A 354300012100505
2010–11 Belgian First Division A 37620007000466
2011–12 Belgian First Division A 294200010100415
2012–13 Belgian First Division A 31521009100427
2013–14 Belgian First Division A 30320000000323
2014–15 Belgian First Division A 300000100040
Total 18122111003930023126
Norwich City 2014–15 Championship 500010000060
2015–16 Premier League 10010200000130
Total 15010300000190
Rotherham United (loan) 2015–16 Championship 410000000041
Total 410000000041
Legia Warsaw 2016–17 Ekstraklasa 314100010100425
Total 314100010100425
Olympiacos 2017–18 Superleague Greece 182100010200294
Total 182100010200294
Gent 2018–19 Belgian First Division A 21440004000294
Total 21440004000294
Career total 28635181306461037441

References
  1. "Ofoe joins Olympiacos". www.olympiacos.org. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  2. "Hamburg bring in Anderlecht prodigy". uefa.com. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  3. "Bundesliga-Ticker: Die neuesten Infos der 18 Klubs" (in German). 9 January 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  4. "Brentford 0–3 Norwich City". BBC Sport. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  5. "Rotherham 2-1 Cardiff City". BBC. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  6. "Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe signs for Legia Warsaw". Norwich Canaries. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  7. "Σαρωτικός ο Ολυμπιακός, έκλεισε και τον Οφόε!". www.sport24.gr. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  8. "Ολυμπιακός: Οφόε ο... έβδομος". www.naftemporiki.gr. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  9. "Olympiakos vs Rijeka 2–1". www.uefa.com. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  10. "Sporting CP vs Olympiakos 3–1". www.uefa.com. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  11. Ανακοίνωσε τον Οτζίτζα Οφόε η Γκενκ (in Greek). Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  12. "Η Γάνδη ανακοίνωσε τον Οφόε (pics)!" (in Greek). Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  13. Coerts, Stefan (9 November 2010). "Club Brugge Star Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe Considering Switching Allegiances to Play for Ghana". goal.com. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
  14. "V. ODJIDJA-OFOE". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  15. "2006 Belgian Super Cup". Anderlecht Online. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  16. "2007–08 UEFA Cup Round Of 16". UEFA. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  17. "Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe". superleaguegreece.net. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
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