Cristian Șchiopu (born 19 January 1974) is a

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 ...

n former football player who played as a central back for

Foresta Fălticeni Foresta Fălticeni (also known as ''Foresta Suceava'') was a Romanian professional football club from Fălticeni, Suceava County, Romania, founded in 1954 as ''Avântul Fălticeni'' and subsequently dissolved in 2003. History The club was fo ...

, Mureșul Toplița and Farul Constanța.

Playing career

Cristian Șchiopu was born on 19 January 1974 in

Fălticeni Fălticeni (; ''; ;'' ) is a town in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Western Moldavia. According to the 2021 census, Fălticeni is the third largest urban settlement in the county. It was declared ...

, starting to play football in 1992 at local club, Foresta in

Divizia B 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

. Two years later the team relegated to

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one season. Then he went for one season at Mureșul Toplița in Divizia B, afterwards returning to Foresta which he helped earn promotion to the first league in 1997, making his

Divizia A 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 ...

debut on 2 August in a 2–1 away loss in front of

Argeș Pitești Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

. In 1999, Foresta relegated but Șchiopu helped it promote back after one season. In the 1999–2000 season he was used all the minutes by coach

Marin Barbu Marin Barbu (born 5 April 1958) is a Romanian football coach and former footballer. During his football career, Marin Barbu played, among others, for Steaua București and FCM Brașov. Coaching career Barbu left his position as head coach of ...

in a historical 5–4 away win over

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 Yekaterin ...

after Dinamo at one point led with 4–0. However, at the end of the season, the team relegated once again. After staying one season with Foresta in Divizia B, Șchiopu returned to first league football when in 2002 he signed with Farul Constanța where in his first season he scored two goals, the first one being the victory goal of a 2–1 over Argeș Pitești and the second being in a 1–0 with

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 ...

. He reached the

2005 Cupa României final The 2005 Cupa României Final was the 67th final of Romania's most prestigious cup competition. The final was played at the Cotroceni Stadium in Bucharest on 11 May 2005 and was contested between Divizia A sides Dinamo București and Farul Consta ...

where coach

Petre Grigoraș Petre Grigoraș (born 15 November 1964, in Poduri, Bacău County, Bacău) is a Romanian football (soccer), football manager and former player. He is known as "Petre Grigoraș, cel mai tare din oraș" ("Petre Grigoraș, best man of the city"), as ...

used him all the minutes in the 1–0 loss with

. In 2006 he started to play in European competitions, appearing in both legs of the 4–2 loss on aggregate in front of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

from the third round of the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

. In the 2007–08 season, Șchiopu scored his last first league goals from penalty kicks in two 1–0 wins over Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț and Gloria Bistrița. In the following season, on 25 October 2008, he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 away loss in front of

Unirea Urziceni Fotbal Club Unirea Urziceni, commonly known as Unirea Urziceni (), was a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County. Unirea became Divizia A Final Tables, national champions ...

, having a total of 272 matches with eight goals scored in the competition. Șchiopu wanted to play one more season for Farul in the second league, to help it promote back to the first but after he suffered a rupture of ligaments injury in the first round of the 2009–10 season in a game with

Dunărea Giurgiu Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See ...

, Șchiopu decided to retire.

Coaching career

After he ended his playing career, Cristian Șchiopu started coaching, mostly at junior level at Farul Constanța and Gheorghe Hagi's Football Academy, with the latter working three years and winning one national title. He also coached seniors, being

's assistant at Callatis Mangalia in 2011 and after Barbu was dismissed, Șchiopu was head coach for a while. In 2016 together with another coach, Cătălin Agafiței, he set up the Constanța Marina 2015 Sports Association, where children were trained in football.

Honours

Foresta Suceava *

: 1996–97, 1999–00 *

: 1994–95 Farul Constanța *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

runner-up: 2004–05

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiopu, Cristian 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Fălticeni Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players FCV Farul Constanța players Footballers from Suceava County Romanian football managers