Cristian Marian Manea (; born 9 August 1997) 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

right-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 ...

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

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 ...

and the Romania national team. Manea started out as a senior at Viitorul Constanța in 2014, and transferred to

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

during that summer. He did not feature in any games for the Cypriots, being loaned out consecutively to Viitorul,

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

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 ...

, and again CFR Cluj. Manea signed a permanent deal with the latter in 2020, and won seven domestic honours during his stints in

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

. In 2024, he moved to Rapid București as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. Internationally, Manea became the youngest player to make his 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 ...

after playing in a 1–0 win over

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in May 2014. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, he represented the under-21 side in the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

Club career

Viitorul Constanța

Born in

Agigea Agigea (; , ) is a commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The commune includes four settlements: , Lazu (Turkish: ''Laz-Mahale''), Sanatoriul Agigea and Stațiunea Zoologică Marină Agigea, the last two being special settlemen ...

Constanța County Constanța () is a Counties of Romania, county (județ) of Romania on the Bulgaria–Romania border, border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2021, it had a population of 655,997 ...

, Manea spent his junior years in the

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

of Viitorul Constanța. He made his professional debut for the club on 21 April 2014, in a 0–3 home

loss to Steaua București.

Apollon Limassol

In the summer of 2014, an

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investment, investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These ad ...

acquired Manea's playing rights and he was registered by Cypriot side

. The transfer fee was rumoured to be worth €2.5 million. Previously, Romanian media reported that Manea had been sold to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

team Chelsea for roughly £2.3 million, but the rumour proved to be false. In May 2018, the player himself stated that he had believed he would sign for Chelsea and that he had never physically been to Cyprus.

Various loans

Manea spent the 2014–15 campaign on loan at his former club Viitorul Constanța, and scored his first senior goal in a 2–1 away defeat of Petrolul Ploiești on 13 April 2015. On 28 August 2015, Manea moved to Belgian team

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

on a

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 ...

-long loan, which was extended for another year. He amassed 18 appearances in all competitions before returning to Romania on 27 June 2017, joining

also on loan. He was an undisputed starter during his stint, winning back-to-back national championships. On 2 September 2019, fellow Liga I team

agreed a deal to sign Manea on loan with an option to buy. He fell out of favour at the

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 ...

-based club, and on 31 January 2020 returned to CFR Cluj on loan for the remainder of the

CFR Cluj

On 6 September 2020, Manea signed a four-year deal with CFR Cluj for an undisclosed transfer fee. Manea scored his first

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

goal on 3 August 2021, in a 1–1 home draw with Young Boys in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

Rapid București

On 24 June 2024, Manea agreed to a three-year contract with

as a

International career

Manea earned

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 Java ...

for Romania at under-16, under-17, under-19, and under-21 levels. In May 2014, he was called up to the senior team by manager

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

, despite having only made five club appearances at the time. Manea made his debut as a starter against

on the 31st that month, aged 16 years, 9 months and 22 days. He became the youngest footballer to play for Romania since 1928, after breaking the record set by

Grațian Sepi Grațian Sepi (30 December 1910 – 6 March 1977) was a Romanian footballer who played as a striker. Club career Grațian Sepi, nicknamed "The Tank from the Balkans" or "The Brunette Sindelar" was born on 30 December 1910 in Valkány, Austri ...

. Manea registered his first senior goal for the country on 5 June 2018, scoring the opener in a 2–0 friendly win over

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

at the

Ilie Oană Stadium The Ilie Oană Stadium (Romanian: ''Stadionul Ilie Oană'') is a football stadium in Ploiești, Romania. It has been the home ground of Petrolul Ploiești since its inauguration in September 2011, and has a capacity of 15,073 spectators. The st ...

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

. The following year, he featured for the under-21 side in all four matches of the 2019 UEFA European Championship, where Romania was eliminated by

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 ...

in the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

CFR Cluj *

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual *Liga I Team of the Season: 2017–18,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

Notes Citations

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manea, Cristian 1997 births Living people Footballers from Constanța County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players Apollon Limassol FC players Belgian Pro League players Royal Excel Mouscron players CFR Cluj players FCSB players FC Rapid București players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century Romanian sportsmen