Chidi Odiah

Chidi Odiah

Personal information
Full name	Chukwudi Odiah
Date of birth	December 17, 1983 (1983-12-17) (age 27)
Place of birth	Port Harcourt, Nigeria,
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Wingback
Club information
Current club	CSKA Moscow
Number	15
Youth career
	Eagle Cement
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Eagle Cement	28	(3)
2000	Julius Berger	10	(1)
2000–2004	Sheriff Tiraspol	58	(5)
2004–	CSKA Moscow	151	(5)
National team‡
2004–	Nigeria	27	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:07, 6 August 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 05:07, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

Chidi Odiah (born December 17, 1983) is a Nigerian professional football player who currently plays for CSKA Moscow. Odiah has previously played for Sheriff Tiraspol in the Moldovan National Division, Eagle Cement and Julius Berger F.C.

Chidi Odiah has represented his country at international level.

Club career

Eagle Cement and Julius Berger

He began his career with Eagle Cement in the Nigeria Premier League, before moving to Julius Berger F.C. in 2000 for which he has played 10 games. In this year Julius Berger F.C. won the Nigeria Premier League.

Sheriff Tiraspol

In late 2000 he moved to Sheriff Tiraspol. For the time spent in Tiraspol, Odiah appeared in 58 games adding five goals, becoming one of the major players in the team. Sheriff dominated Moldovan football and Chidi won many honors: Moldovan National Division - 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04; Moldovan Cup - 2000/01, 2001/02; Moldovan Super Cup - 2003 and CIS Cup - 2003. He also gained experience in the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase.

Odiah playing for CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow

In the CIS Cup, he drew the attention of scouts CSKA and in 2004, Odiah joined CSKA Moscow on a four-year contract.^[1] Chidi was given the number 15 shirt. He made his debut for CSKA in the Russian Premier League against Rostov. He quickly took up position right back. Season 2005 was the best in his career, to date, Chukwudi won: Russian Premier League - 2005, Russian Cup - 2005, 2004–05 UEFA Cup (by beating Sporting Lisbon 3–1 in the Final on Estádio José Alvalade^[2]) and participation in the 2005 UEFA Super Cup. At quarter-finals 2004–05 UEFA Cup he scored the first goal in the 4–0 win over Auxerre.^[3] Since 2006 Odiah career has been affected by injuries and he rarely demonstrated previous level. Last success in CSKA: quarter-finals 2009–10 UEFA Champions League and 2010-11 Russian Cup.

International Career and Stats

Chidi has represented his nation at various youth levels. He played for Nigeria U-17 national team to African U-17 Championship - winner of the tournament. On the next event, Meridian Cup, he was team captain. His premier match in the senior team took place in September 2004, in a match against Zimbabwe. Chidi also twice won the bronze medal with Nigeria senior team at the African Cup of Nations - 2006, 2010.

Odiah was chosen for the team of Nigeria to 2010 FIFA World Cup^[4] and in the first match against Argentina came into the starting lineup, as well in the match with South Korea, he made goal assist.

Goals for Senior National Team

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
	October 11, 2008	Abuja, Nigeria	Sierra Leone	4–1	Won	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life

Odiah married to Uju Uzuegbunam. They have one son, Kenzo, born 10 June 2011. Recently, he has problems in the family.^[5]

Interesting facts

• He became first African player to CSKA Moscow
• Chidi speaks good Russian
• His favorite food - Ukrainian borscht

Honours

Clubs

Winner

Julius Berger

• Nigeria Premier League: 2000

Sheriff Tiraspol

• Moldovan National Division: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04
• Moldovan Cup: 2001, 2002
• Moldovan Super Cup: 2003
• CIS Cup: 2003

CSKA

• UEFA Cup: 2005
• Russian Premier League: 2005, 2006
• Russian Cup: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011
• Russian Super Cup: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009

Runner-up

CSKA

• UEFA Super Cup: 2005
• Russian Premier League: 2008, 2010
• Russian Super Cup: 2010, 2011

International

Nigeria

• African Cup of Nations: 2006, 2010 bronze medalist

Nigeria under-17 team

• African U-17 Championship: 2001

Individual

• In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia: position right half-backs № 1 (2005)^[6]
• In the list of 33 best football players of the championship of Russia: position right full-backs № 2 (2004)

References

1. ^ http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid=138660.html
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4555475.stm
3. ^ http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2004/matches/round=1979/match=80608/postmatch/statistics/index.html
4. ^ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/team/squad?id=657&cc=5739&ver=global
5. ^ http://odili.net/news/source/2011/sep/25/303.html
6. ^ http://news.rin.ru/eng/news/3425/

External links

• Profile at PFC CSKA Moscow official site
• Odiah Profile at UEFA.com (2006/07)
• Profile at transfermarkt.co

Persondata
Name	Odiah, Chidi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1983-12-17
Place of birth	Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Date of death
Place of death