| Brian Idowu | |
| Fullname: | Brian Oladapo Idowu[1] |
| Birth Date: | 18 May 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Height: | 1.79 m |
| Position: | Defender |
| Youthyears1: | 1999– |
| Youthclubs1: | Smena-Zenit |
| Youthyears2: | –2010 |
| Youthclubs2: | Zenit St. Petersburg |
| Youthyears3: | 2010–2015 |
| Youthclubs3: | Amkar Perm |
| Years1: | 2012–2018 |
| Clubs1: | Amkar Perm |
| Caps1: | 87 |
| Goals1: | 1 |
| Years2: | 2013–2014 |
| Clubs2: | → Dynamo St. Petersburg (loan) |
| Caps2: | 25 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 2018–2021 |
| Clubs3: | Lokomotiv Moscow |
| Caps3: | 25 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs4: | → Khimki (loan) |
| Caps4: | 28 |
| Goals4: | 3 |
| Years5: | 2021–2023 |
| Clubs5: | Khimki |
| Caps5: | 41 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2017–2018 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 10 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Pcupdate: | 15 April 2023 |
| Ntupdate: | 20 November 2018 |
Brian Oladapo Idowu (Russian: Брайан Оладапо Идову; born 18 May 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back. Born in Russia, he plays for the Nigeria national team.
Born in Saint Petersburg to a Nigerian father and a Russian-Nigerian mother, Idowu moved to Owerri, Nigeria at early age, and later moved back to Russia.
He made his Russian Premier League debut for FC Amkar Perm on 6 May 2012 in a game against FC Terek Grozny.[2]
After a loan spell with Dynamo St Petersburg during the 2013–14 season, Idowu signed a new 3-year deal with Amkar on 30 June 2014,[3] extending his contract again in February 2017 until the summer of 2020.[4]
On 10 July 2018, he signed a 3-year contract with FC Lokomotiv Moscow.[5]
On 7 August 2020, he joined Khimki on loan for the 2020–21 season.[6]
On 7 June 2021, he moved to Khimki on a permanent basis, signing a 2-year contract with an additional 1-year extension option.[7] He left Khimki in July 2023.[8]
In November 2017, Idowu was called up to the Nigerian national team for their friendly against Argentina in Krasnodar on 14 November 2017.[9] Idowu made his debut against Argentina on 14 November, coming on as a half-time substitute for Ola Aina, and scoring Nigeria's third goal in a 4-2 win.[10]
In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[11]
Idowu's father is Nigerian and his mother is half-Russian, half-Nigerian. He was born and raised in St. Petersburg, except for a period when he was aged 3 to 6 when he lived in Owerri, Nigeria.[12] Idowu speaks perfect Russian and acted as a makeshift translator of the Nigerian national team at news conference ahead of a fixture in Krasnodar in November 2017.[13]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Amkar Perm | 2011–12 | RPL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2012–13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 2013–14 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 2014–15 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 12 | 0 | |||||
| 2015–16 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 25 | 1 | |||||
| 2016–17 | 26 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 1 | |||||
| 2017–18 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 1 | – | 2 | 0 | 32 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 87 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 99 | 3 | |||
| Dynamo St. Petersburg (loan) | 2013–14 | FNL | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 1 | |||
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 2018–19 | RPL | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| 2019–20 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |||
| Total | 25 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 0 | |||
| Khimki | 2020–21 | RPL | 28 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 3 | |||
| 2021–22 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||||
| 2022–23 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 16 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 64 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 74 | 3 | |||
| Career total | 201 | 5 | 23 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 237 | 7 | |||
| Nigeria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals | |
| 2017 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 10 | 1 | |