Ciprian Andrei Marica (; born 2 October 1985) is a Romanian former

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 ...

and minority shareholder of Farul Constanța. He played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Club career

Dinamo București

Marica's first professional club team was

Dinamo București 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 Yekaterinb ...

, from the city in which he was born. He started to gain attention even though he only played 23 games (scoring four goals) in three years with the club.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Ciprian transferred to the Ukrainian top club and played his so far best seasons with them. He gained international experience, getting to play in the UEFA Cup European competition.

VfB Stuttgart

On 23 July 2007, he transferred to German club

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

, after his former club,

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

, rejected another offer, from English team

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

amongst interest from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

. Marica signed a 5-year contract. Stuttgart sporting director

Horst Heldt Horst Heldt (born 9 December 1969) is a German football executive and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the former general manager of 1. FC Köln. Playing career Heldt was born in Königswinter. He played at 1. FC Köln from 199 ...

said: "Ciprian is a very flexible forward, and a permanent thorn in the side of any opposition defence, who fits outstandingly into our team. He wanted to join us desperately." Marica made his debut for VfB in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

on 12 August 2007, in a home game against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

(2–2). In his first season, he got plenty of appearances (28), scoring only two goals in those (plus one goal in the UEFA Champions League, which led Stuttgart to their win against the

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fo ...

). After this first failed season then-coach

Armin Veh Armin Veh (; born 1 February 1961) is a German football manager and former player who last managed Eintracht Frankfurt. He won the German championship with Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart in 2007. Veh and his team also had the chance to win "the ...

mistrusted Marica, giving him only few appearances. Things seemed to get better after the sacking of Veh. New coach

Markus Babbel Markus Babbel (; born 8 September 1972) is a German professional football coach and former player who last managed the Western Sydney Wanderers FC. He played as a defender for clubs in Germany and England. Babbel won the UEFA Cup twice, in 199 ...

entrusted him to play instead of

Cacau Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto (born 27 March 1981), known as Cacau (, ), is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Brazil, he represented Germany at international level. Cacau received German citizenship in February 200 ...

, but Marica again failed to impress. Only after

Christian Gross Christian Jürgen Gross (born 14 August 1954) is a Swiss football manager and former player who most recently coached Schalke 04. He played as a sweeper and central midfielder. Gross was manager of Basel from 1 July 1999 to 27 May 2009, winning ...

replaced Babbel as VfB coach, Marica got a new chance, mainly profiting by long-time injury of

. This time Marica didn't disappoint his coach, scoring four goals in three consecutive matches. (Two goals in a 2–0 victory for VfB on 20 March 2010 match in

against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...

, the winning goal on 27 March 2010 away at Bayern Munich and the equalizing goal in a 2–1 victory against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

on 3 April 2010.) As of season 2010–11 he started again to be only the third choice behind

and

Pavel Pogrebnyak Pavel Viktorovich Pogrebnyak (russian: Па́вел Ви́кторович Погребня́к ; born 8 November 1983) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Moscow, Pogrebnyak began his career at Spartak ...

. On 12 July 2011, Marica was released from his contract at Stuttgart.

Schalke 04

On 28 July 2011, Marica signed a two-year contract with German club

, worth €5m. He chose to remain in Germany, despite having offers from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, and other two French clubs such as

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

. In a match against

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Footbal ...

, on 14 December, Marica scored one goal, to help his team to a 3–0 win. On 29 January 2012, Marica scored a double against

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...

Although

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosiv ...

opened the score in the first half, Marica made it 2–1 for

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

, with the game eventually ending in a 4–1 win for his team. Towards the end of his contract with the team he received interest from teams such as Shakhtar, Lazio and Inter.

Getafe

On 27 September 2013, Marica signed a contract with Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a fla ...

. He made his Getafe debut on 6 October as a substitute in the 3–1 win against

Betis Sevilla Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Villa ...

. On 31 October, Marica scored his first league goal in a 2–0 away win against

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. In May 2014, he scored twice in a 2–1 win over

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La ...

, keeping Getafe out of the

relegation zone In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Konyaspor

In the summer of 2014, Marica signed a two-year contract with Turkish side

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadiu ...

. On 15 October 2015, he was released by Konyaspor. Marica played only seven games in 14 months for the Turkish side, mainly because of his injuries.

Steaua București

On 14 January 2016, Marica reached an agreement with

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 ...

, thus returning to Romania after twelve years. He became the 59th footballer to play for both big Bucharest rivals, Dinamo and FCSB. In his first match with FCSB, a 2–0 victory against

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 ...

, he played from the start and was replaced after 84 minutes. His performance was deemed weak and conservative, as he only managed to get two opportunities in a game in which he was otherwise unremarkable.

International career

Algérie-Roumanie - 20140604 - Ciprian Marica

Marica scored 25 goals in 71

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. He made his debut on 16 November 2003, in a friendly game with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

played in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

and won by Squadra Azzurra 1–0. Marica was introduces in the 81st minute, replacing

Daniel Pancu Daniel Gabriel Pancu (; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder or a forward. Club career Pancu began his playing career at FC Politehnica Iași. He made his debut in the Romanian Firs ...

. His first goal for the national team came on 17 November 2004, in a match against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

. On 25 March 2008, he was awarded the "Meritul Sportiv", class III medal, by the president of Romania,

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 the results on Qualifying to EURO 2008 and qualification 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 scored his first double 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 ...

in a 2012 European championship qualifying match against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

, on 3 June 2011. He scored his first ever hat-trick for

in a friendly match against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

, on 4 June 2013.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Marica goal.''

Honours

Dinamo București *

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 ...

: 2001–02 * Cupa României: 2002–03 Shakhtar Donetsk * Vyshcha Liha: 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

: 2003–04 * Ukrainian Supercup:

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 *

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) 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 ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marica, Ciprian 1985 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian footballers Association football forwards FC Dinamo București players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players VfB Stuttgart players FC Schalke 04 players Getafe CF footballers Konyaspor footballers FC Steaua București players Liga I players Ukrainian Premier League players Bundesliga players La Liga players Süper Lig players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Romania international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players