It is easy to understand why football bewitched Peter Osaze Odemwingie’s soul. What is not so obvious is his seamless movement from professional football to professional golf.

Osaze spent a prodigious part of his childhood at the then Ogbe (now Samuel Ogbemudia) Stadium, Benin City,  not as a street urchin, far from it. His father, Peter Odemwingie (Snr), from Urhonigbe, 

Orhionmwon LGA of Edo State, was Bendel Insurance Football Club’s Sports Doctor, during Osaze’s early years. He and his wife, Osaze’s mother, Raisa then a Tartan Russian, had just returned to Nigeria from the former Soviet Union, and both became Benin-based medical doctors.

Born in Tashkent – then in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic but now the capital of Uzbekistan, 15 July 1981, Osaze the handsome tot with a  winsome smile enjoyed the uncommon friendship and mentoring of the stars of the Bendel Insurance football team. So, as he took his first hesitant steps, he also began to try out his first football kicks amidst a swarm of real-time footballers; an opportunity given only to a blessed and precious few. Osaze didn’t disappoint; the sport would, naturally of course, claim him body and soul. And he, amazingly, gave it his best shots – pun seriously intended. He became such a prodigious star that the world just had to take notice of this nimble-footed play-maker and striker. Standing six-feet tall, Osaze had the stability which comes from strong limbs and muscles and his

hardy heart made him ever a fighter on the field, giving as much shoving as he received.

Though tough as they come, he was not just trendy, classy and tasteful in the field of play but simply elegant and graceful – remember that this child prodigy trained in the soccer academies of Moscow and Lagos. Yes, he had an unmistakable panache on the football pitch as he played more with his brain than with his muscles.

Did Osaze who grew up in Benin-City also actually train in the soccer academy in Moscow? Yes! As Osaze the child was getting used to his Bini surroundings, he followed his mother back to the Soviet Union where he began his youth soccer career aged 13 with KAMAZ in 1994. He moved to CSKA Moscow 1995–1998 and five years later in 1999, the 17 years old teenager had returned to Nigeria and for his final youth soccer year with AS Racines of Lagos.

Then in 2000, Osaze returned to his beloved Benin-City, a soccer-crazy town where he began his professional career with the Bendel Insurance team until 2002, scoring 19 goals in 53 appearances and joining the short list of Bendel Insurance youthful stars such as Prince Afejukwu,

Damian Ogunsuyi, Tony Oviawe and Sam Okpodu – legends all.  The football love affair between him and the city of Benin didn’t end with his departure first to the Belgian side, La Louvière where he spent three seasons winning the Belgian Cup before moving to French side, Lille, then Lokomotiv Moscow, and the English West Bromwich Albion, (where he scored 30 goals and won three Premier League Player of the Month awards). He later played for Cardiff and Stoke cities, Rotterdam United and Madura United of Indonesia before retiring on 3 April 1919.

In the interim, he was a key player for Nigeria from 2002 to 2014, once being the national team’s Captain.  Anytime Osaze’s team won a match, Bini youths would converge on the senior (Dr.) Peter

Odemwingie’s house for celebrations.

Osaze’s parents are both medical doctors. So, it is not surprising that he would return to school after his football career. Now, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in professional golf studies.

“It was a proud moment for me,” he told the BBC. “On graduation day, seeing how everybody else was happy made me realise it took all of us some effort to get over the line, because a few people quit”. So he is now a certified Golf Coach. He studied communication skills, time management, retail, taxation, sports science and nutrition but regretted that he “didn’t give enough time to the business finance

module”. He also told the BBC that he is not limiting himself to golf, because he also plans to study for football’s UEFA’s coaching licence, adding: “It will be a dream to coach my nations: Russia, Nigeria, England.”

For now, he is focused on Golf, which was readmitted as an Olympics sport in 2016, and he wants to see a Nigerian aiming for an Olympic medal. Osaze said: “If I cannot play as a golfer, I can at least be in the team of a golfer who will play there. I want to introduce people to the game and build a generation of golfers, from Nigeria in particular, that will participate in the Olympics.”

Don’t blame Osaze for dreaming about a return to the Olympics; he was in the Nigerian squad that lost the Beijing 2008 football final 1-0 to Argentina; the Olympic thrill is hard to forget. And he may be wishing to make up for the gold medal he lost to Argentina. Peter Odemwingie first played golf in 2012 while on a pre-season tour of the United States with West Bromwich Albion.

Osaze knows he can’t spread the Golf gospel all alone, so he said, “It’s a way to sell the project to our state government” as he is already planning meetings with officials and big corporate names in Nigeria, hoping to promote the benefits of his new sport. “If we have more golf courses, there will be tourism. Kids can get scholarships in good countries. If somebody sees an opportunity, they can latch on to and give themselves an amazing life.”

Osaze wants to start a football and golf academy in Benin-City. Golf? “It’s like any other sport. 

The earlier you start; you have a chance to become an elite,” he said. Osaze should know because he started early – as a toddler close to Bendel Insurance footballers right inside the Ogbe Stadium, Benin-City. And he wants such luck to smile on other children.