Adrian Cristea (born 30 November 1983) is a Romanian retired 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 ...

who played as a winger.

Club career

Adrian Cristea, nicknamed "Prințul" ''(The Prince)'', started his career in his hometown, Iași, playing in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting ...

for Politehnica Iași. After

Politehnica Politehnica may refer to: * Politehnica University of Bucharest * Politehnica University of Timișoara * Politehnica metro station in Bucharest *FC Politehnica Timișoara Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timi� ...

won its promotion from

, Cristea made his

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut on 30 July 2004 in a 2–1 loss against

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascad ...

. After scoring 2 goals in 15 matches in the first half of the 2004–05 season, he was transferred to Dinamo București where he was wanted by coach

Ioan Andone Ioan Andone (; born 15 March 1960) is a Romanian football coach and former player. Club career Ioan Andone, nicknamed "Fălcosul" was born on 15 March 1960 in Șpălnaca and when he was 14 years old he played basketball and football simultan ...

. He spent 7 seasons at

Dinamo A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...

, appearing in 161

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

matches in which he scored 27 goals, winning a cup, a supercup and the

Liga I 2006–07 Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

title, also playing 31 matches in which he scored 4 goals in European competitions, helping the team reach the sixteenths-finals in the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the matc ...

where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica. In December 2010, Cristea was sold to

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first tier of the Romanian ...

, for a total fee estimated by the Romanian press between €1.5 million and €2 million. After one year and a half in which he scored 11 goals in 42

matches, in the summer of 2012, he was transferred to Petrolul Ploiești, with 11 other players from

, when the owner of the Cluj team, left the club in order to take control of Petrolul. His first experience abroad came in 2013, when he went to play alongside fellow Romanian George Țucudean, being loaned to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

, where he was wanted by

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian football coach and former player who played as a defender. Club career Mircea Rednic, nicknamed "Puriul" was born on 9 April 1962 in Hunedoara and until he was 14 years old he played table ten ...

, a coach that worked with him at Petrolul and

. On 30 July 2013, after terminating his contract with Petrolul Ploiești, Cristea signed a two-year contract with fellow Romanian

club

Steaua București Steaua or Steaua București may refer to: * CSA Steaua București, a Romanian multi-sports club * CSA Steaua București (football), the football team of the multi-sports club * Fotbal Club FCSB, a football team that used this name between 2003 ...

. However, Cristea failed to win a place in the first team, playing only 9

matches, scoring one goal and making 3 appearances in the 2013–14 Champions League, ending his contract with Steaua in April 2014. In September 2014, Cristea reached an agreement with Liga I team

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, whe ...

, where he ended his career.

International career

Adrian Cristea played 9 games for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, making his debut on 7 February 2007 when coach Victor Pițurcă introduced him at halftime to replace Ovidiu Petre in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

. His following game was a 3–0 victory against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

at the successful Euro 2008 qualifiers, also appearing in the second leg against

, which ended with a 2–0 victory. In 2008, he was called by Victor Pițurcă in the squad for the 2008 European Championship, but didn't receive a chance to play. He played in a 1–1 against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and a 5–0 loss against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team in a 2–2 against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

at the Euro 2012 qualifiers. On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 a ...

, for his performance in the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

, where Romania managed to qualify to

UEFA Euro 2008 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 9 to 17 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Zürich and Berne. The group was composed of 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists Italy and France, as well as the Netherlands a ...

. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.

After retirement

After he ended his football career, Adrian Cristea worked as a fashion designer, opening a luxury clothing workshop in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

Career statistics

Honours

Politehnica Iași *

: 2003–04 * Divizia C: 2001–02 Dinamo București *

: 2006–07 * Cupa României: 2004–05 * Supercupa Romaniei:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

Steaua București *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cristea, Adrian 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Iași Association football midfielders Romanian footballers FC Politehnica Iași (1945) players FC Dinamo București players FC Universitatea Cluj players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Standard Liège players FC Steaua București players CS Concordia Chiajna players Liga I players Liga II players Belgian Pro League players Romania international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium