Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (born 21 February 1989) is a Belgian 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 midfielder for

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

in the Croatian HNL.

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 ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

. 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 R.A.E.C. Mons may refer to one of two Belgian football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, ...

. In January 2008, he was signed by Hamburger SV. On 9 January 2009, he left Hamburg and moved for €900,000 to

Club Brugge K.V. (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

after one year in the Bundesliga. 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. 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 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 ...

. In August 2016, Odjidja-Ofoe was transferred to

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

for an undisclosed fee. Scoring 5 goals and giving 14 assists in 42 official appearances with

during the 2016–17 season, he was named Ekstraklasa Player of the Season and Midfielder of the Season. On 9 July 2017,

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

officially announced the purchase of central midfielder Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe from

, 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. 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 Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

in added time for the 1st leg of UEFA Champions League play-offs. 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. On 21 July 2018, Gent officially announced the acquisition of Ofoe from

on a two-year contract. 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.

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. 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 Steven Arnold Defour (born 15 April 1988) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of Mechelen. In his senior career he played for Genk, Standard Liège, Porto, Anderlecht, Burnley, Antwerp and ...

. 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

Honours

Anderlecht * Belgian Super Cup:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Legia Warsaw * Ekstraklasa: 2016–17 Gent * Belgian Cup: 2021–22 Individual * Ekstraklasa Player of the Season: 2016–17 * Ekstraklasa Midfielder of the Season: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Odjidja-Ofoe, Vadis 1989 births Living people Footballers from Ghent Belgian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Belgium men's international footballers Premier League players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players Bundesliga players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Hamburger SV players Hamburger SV II players Club Brugge KV players Norwich City F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Legia Warsaw players Olympiacos F.C. players K.A.A. Gent players HNK Hajduk Split players Belgian people of Ghanaian descent Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Black Belgian sportspeople