Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe

Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe

Odjidja-Ofoe in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe
Date of birth	(1989-02-21) 21 February 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth	Ghent, Belgium
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Hajduk Split
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)
2018–2023	Gent	137	(12)
2023–	Hajduk Split	10	(0)
International career
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)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 November 2023

Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (born 21 February 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hajduk Split in the Croatian HNL. ^[1]

Club career

Odjidja-Ofoe joined the team of his birth area Gent at the age of five. Later on, he was transferred to R.S.C. 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 RAEC 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 match played 17 December 2023 ^{[14] [15] [16] [17]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [lower-alpha 1]		League cup [lower-alpha 2]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Anderlecht	2006–07	Belgian First Division	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	1	0
	2007–08		3	1	1	0	–		0	0	0	0	4	1
	Total		3	1	1	0	–		0	0	1	0	5	1
Hamburger SV	2007–08	Bundesliga	2	0	0	0	–		1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	–		3	0
Hamburger SV II	2007–08	Regionalliga	8	0	–		–		–		–		8	0
	2008–09		4	0	–		–		–		–		4	0
	Total		12	0	–		–		–		–		12	0
Club Brugge	2008–09	Belgian Pro League	16	0	0	0	–		–		–		16	0
	2009–10		35	4	3	0	–		12 [lower-alpha 5]	1	–		50	5
	2010–11		37	6	2	0	–		7 [lower-alpha 5]	0	–		46	6
	2011–12		29	4	2	0	–		10 [lower-alpha 5]	1	–		41	5
	2012–13		31	5	2	1	–		9 [lower-alpha 6]	1	–		42	7
	2013–14		30	3	2	0	–		–		–		32	3
	2014–15		3	0	0	0	–		1 [lower-alpha 5]	0	–		4	0
	Total		181	22	11	1	–		39	3	–		231	26
Norwich City	2014–15	Championship	5	0	0	0	1	0	–		–		6	0
	2015–16	Premier League	10	0	1	0	2	0	–		–		13	0
	Total		15	0	1	0	3	0	–		–		19	0
Rotherham United (loan)	2015–16	Championship	4	1	0	0	0	0	–		–		4	1
Legia Warsaw	2016–17	Ekstraklasa	31	4	1	0	–		10 [lower-alpha 7]	1	0	0	42	5
Olympiacos	2017–18	Super League Greece	18	2	1	0	–		10 [lower-alpha 8]	2	–		29	4
Gent	2018–19	Belgian Pro League	28	4	5	0	–		4 [lower-alpha 5]	0	–		37	4
	2019–20		26	3	2	0	–		14 [lower-alpha 5]	0	–		42	3
	2020–21		25	2	2	1	–		6 [lower-alpha 9]	1	–		33	4
	2021–22		29	2	6	2	–		13 [lower-alpha 10]	2	–		48	6
	2022–23		29	1	3	0	–		17 [lower-alpha 11]	2	–		44	3
	Total		137	12	18	3	–		54	5	–		204	20
Hajduk Split	2023–24	Croatian Football League	15	0	2	0	–		2 [lower-alpha 10]	0	1 [lower-alpha 12]	0	20	0
Career total			417	42	34	4	3	0	116	11	2	0	569	57

1. Includes Belgian Cup, FA Cup, Polish Cup, Greek Football Cup, Croatian Football Cup
2. Includes EFL Cup
3. Appearance in Belgian Super Cup
4. Appearance in UEFA Cup
5. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
6. Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, seven appearances in UEFA Europa League
7. Eight appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
8. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
9. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
10. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
11. Two appearances in UEFA Europa League, fifteen appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa Conference League
12. Appearance in Croatian Football Super Cup

Honours

Anderlecht

• Belgian Super Cup: 2006

Legia Warsaw

• Ekstraklasa: 2016–17

Gent

• Belgian Cup: 2021–22

Individual

• Ekstraklasa Player of the Season: 2016–17 ^[18]
• Ekstraklasa Midfielder of the Season: 2016–17 ^[19]

References

1. Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at Soccerway
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.
18. "Rozdano nagrody w Lotto Ekstraklasie za sezon 2016/17" (in Polish). 90minut. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
19. "Rozdano nagrody w Lotto Ekstraklasie za sezon 2016/17" (in Polish). 90minut. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2023.

External links

• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at Soccerbase
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at the Royal Belgian Football Association
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe – UEFA competition record ( archive )
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at Soccerway
• Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe at 90minut.pl (in Polish)