Ex Super Eagles striker Peter Odemwingie Born in Tashkent, the capital of modern-day Uzbekistan, to a Nigerian father and a Russian mother, he represented clubs in seven different countries, spread across three continents.
“I was very driven career-wise and I love this game,” Odemwingie says. “I don’t know why some people can’t settle in another country. The dressing room is full of boys – it’s always lively and you can always find someone to get close to and have a bond with
“I never struggled to adapt. I really enjoyed the football itself and that was the language that was more important than anything.”
After spending the first 18 months of his life in the Soviet Union, Odemwingie and his parents left for Nigeria. Seven years later they returned to Russia, going from Tashkent to Chelny, where their son’s career started in earnest as he was recruited to the CSKA Moscow academy.
Then, at the age of 17, he moved back to Nigeria again, turning professional with Bendel Insurance, where he scored 19 goals in 53 league appearances.
“My parents had finished their studies, and salaries for doctors were not great in Russia at that time. With their degrees, Nigeria was more appealing and they could do more work. That was the main reason, but also my dad believed that my career would progress better through Nigeria than Russia so we went and he was right.”
Odemwingie earned a call up to the Nigeria squad in April 2002, winning his first cap against Kenya, and signed for La Louvière that same summer. He won the Belgian Cup in his first season and by 2004 had impressed enough to get a move to Lille, where he believes he played his best football.
“The Premier League was the toughest challenge and the hardest place to get good numbers, but I think I was probably sharpest at Lille in terms of movement, speed and goals.
“I was more mature in the Premier League, but Lille was a great time as well. We played in the Champions League and knocked Manchester United out of the group one year. We beat AC Milan away at the San Siro to get through to the next round and I scored.”
After two years of competing with Europe’s best, Lille slipped to mid-table in Odemwingie’s final season as the squad started to be picked apart. Kader Keita and Mathieu Bodmer left to join a dominant Lyon while Odemwingie went to Lokomotiv Moscow.
There had been interest from Roma and Werder Bremen, but the Russian side made the decisive move. “There were a few options that I could have waited for, but the first team that put money down on the table for Lille was Lokomotiv Moscow and they accepted it.
“I thought it was a step back maybe in terms of the league, but they always played in European competitions. It was also a chance to live with my mom again because at the age of 14 I left. She moved back to Moscow then and she’s still working very hard to this day. She loves her job.”
Lokomotiv won the Russian Cup the year that Odemwingie arrived, but they didn’t enjoy great success during his time there. Regardless, he enjoyed being back in the place where it all began.
“I love Russia. It’s my country. I grew up there. There were some negative parts, but it’s my motherland and I love it. I always kept in touch with my classmates and I just returned from there recently. I love the language, the cinema and the jokes. Moscow is a top city.”
Unfortunately, Odemwingie’s departure from Lokomotiv brought some of the worst elements of Russian society to the fore. Racist banners targeting the striker were displayed by supporters following his move to West Bromwich Albion.
Odemwingie is keen to stress that racism is far from unique to Russia, as the rise in incidents of abuse in England, both in stadiums and on social media, has shown.
“Russia has a bad reputation, but we see today that it’s everywhere in the world. It’s a crowd mentality. It’s aggression, it’s alcohol, it’s youths misbehaving. I think it’s everywhere around the world. Of course it wasn’t great to experience that, but sadly it’s a problem in industries like football where there is a lot of money and a lot of envy.
“But if you go to those same countries the general population are pretty tolerant and welcoming. Russia is no worse than any other country in Europe where we read headlines of racial abuse going on.”