Odeluga Joshua "Odel" Offiah (born 26 October 2002) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for the academy of

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Club career

Brighton & Hove Albion

In his youth, Offiah was a member of the

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

academy, and in 2016 won the Kent Youth Cup with their U13 side before joining Brighton & Hove Albion's academy in 2017. Offiah made his professional footballing debut on 24 August 2021, coming on as a 68th minute substitute for Taylor Richards in the 2–0 EFL Cup second round victory over Championship side

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. He made his first start for the "Seagulls" on 8 January 2022, playing 55 minutes of the 2–1 – after extra-time – away win over

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

of the Championship in the FA Cup third round. On 31 January, Offiah committed his future with Brighton by signing a new contract that runs until June 2024. Offiah was among the substitutes in Brighton's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on 23 April 2023, where he remained on the bench in the eventual penalty shootout defeat. He made his Premier League debut and first professional league match of his career three days later, coming on as 88th minute substitute for Albion goalscorer Facundo Buonanotte in the 3–1 away loss at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He made his first ever Premier League start vs Bournemouth on 28 April, 2024.

Heart of Midlothian (loan)

On 18 August 2023, Offiah signed a new contract with Brighton running until June 2025, whilst signing a season-long loan with Heart of Midlothian of the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

. He made a goalscoring debut two days after signing, with a powerful header crashing in off the underside of the crossbar, scoring Hearts' second in the eventual 4–0 home win over

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

second round. Offiah returned to Brighton in December 2023 following the termination of his loan spell.

Personal life

Offiah was born in

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

to Nigerian parents. He is the nephew of former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player Martin Offiah and cousin of Tyler Offiah.

Career statistics

References

External links

Odeluga Offiah
at Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. * 2002 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Camden English people of Ghanaian descent Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent English men's footballers English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Men's association football defenders Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players {{England-footy-defender-2000s-stub