Alexandru Cristian Albu (; born 17 August 1993) is a Romanian 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 lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a defender for

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...

. Albu started out his professional career at

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional Association football, football football team, club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best ...

in 2015, where he spent several seasons playing in the Liga I before relegating to the second division. Following loans to

Academica Clinceni Club Sportiv LPS HD Clinceni, commonly known as Clinceni and formerly as ''Academica Clinceni'', is a Romanian Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Clinceni, Ilfov County, currently playing in the Liga IV - Ilfov Cou ...

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

, and Rapid București, respectively, he signed a permanent contract with the latter in 2021. Internationally, Albu made his senior debut for

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

in October 2021, in a 1–2 away FIFA World Cup qualifier loss to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Early life

Albu was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and is of Romani ethnicity. He grew up supporting Steaua București.

Club career

Concordia Chiajna

Albu made his professional debut for

on 1 May 2015, coming on as an 89th-minute substitute for

Hristijan Dragarski Hristijan Dragarski (; born 16 April 1992) is a Macedonian football defender who currently plays for Besa Dobërdoll 1976. Club career After playing 5 seasons with FK Pelister, Dragarski moved abroad in summer 2014 and signed with Romanian Lig ...

in a 1–0 home

win over

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative b ...

. He became a regular starter for the club in the 2016–17 season, and on 7 September 2016 scored his first goal in a 1–2

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

loss to

ACS Poli Timișoara Asociația Club Sportiv Poli Timișoara (), commonly known as ACS Poli Timișoara, Poli Timișoara or simply ACS Poli, was a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Timișoara, Timiș County. The team was founded in 2012, the ye ...

. On 4 March 2017, Albu recorded his first league goal in a 1–1 draw against the same opponent. He amassed totals of 99 appearances and three goals in the top flight for "the Green Eagles", before relegating to the

Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly 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 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

at the end of the 2018–19 campaign.

Various loans

In January 2020, Albu returned to the Liga I by signing for newly-promoted

on loan for the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. On 16 August, he moved to

on a one-year loan. On 16 June 2021, Albu was loaned again to

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

, totalling 36 games and a career-best seven goals in all competitions during the 2021–22 season.

Rapid București

In the summer of 2022, Albu joined Rapid București on a permanent basis after the team paid a previously-agreed €150,000 to Concordia Chiajna. On 23 April 2023, he scored the only goal of a home

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

victory over

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

in the Liga I. On 25 February 2024, he and his teammate Andrei Borza were expelled from the squad for an undetermined period—later revealed as one match—because they partied in a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

after a 1–3 loss to Politehnica Iași.

International career

Albu made his debut for the Romania national team on 8 October 2021, coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute for Nicolae Stanciu in a 1–2 away loss to

counting for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Style of play

Albu played as a defender during the first part of his career, mostly as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, and later developed into a

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Concordia Chiajna *

runner-up: 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albu, Alexandru 1993 births Living people Romanian Romani people Romani footballers Romanian men's footballers Footballers from Bucharest Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players CS Concordia Chiajna players LPS HD Clinceni players FC UTA Arad players FC Rapid București players Saudi First Division League players Al-Hazem F.C. players Al-Safa FC players FC Botoșani players Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Romanian sportsmen