Cătălin Gheorghiță Golofca (born 21 April 1990) 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 winger or an

attacking 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. ...

for

Liga III 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 ...

club Unirea Alba Iulia.

Career

Early career / Botoșani

Golofca joined

FC Botoșani Asociația Fotbal Club Botoșani (), commonly known as FC Botoșani or simply Botoșani, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Botoșani, Botoșani County, that competes in the Liga I. In 2013, twelve years after being ...

of the Romanian first division in January 2016, aged 25, but spent the rest of the 2015–16 season on loan at former club Rapid CFR Suceava. He previously only had stints with lower league teams from his native

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county (') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat and the ...

area. On 5 August 2016, Golofca recorded his Liga I debut in a 2–4 loss to

FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football club based in Voluntari, Ilfov County, that competes in the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian league system. Founded in 2 ...

. Thirtheen days later, he scored his first goal for Botoșani in a 5–0 away thrashing of

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 ...

. In his debut campaign at the club, Golofca amassed 34 league appearances and netted nine times.

FCSB / Return to Botoșani

After scoring three goals in the first four opening games of the

2017–18 Liga I The 2017–18 Liga I (also known as Liga 1 Betano for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs. The season began on 14 July 2017 and ended on 2 June 2018, being t ...

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 ...

announced the signing of Golofca on a four-year deal on 7 August 2017. The

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

-based team paid

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

400,000 for 40% of his economic rights. On the 15th that month he played his first European match, starting in a goalless draw with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

in the UEFA Champions League play-off round. Golofca's only goal at FCSB came in a

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 ...

3–0 victory over ACS Poli Timișoara, on 30 November. His poor form and rumours about his

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

made him fall out of favor and be loaned back to FC Botoșani in the 2018 winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, eventually rejoining the club on a permanent basis in the summer of that year.

CFR Cluj

On 30 August 2019, Golofca was transferred by two-time defending champions

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 ...

for an undisclosed fee. The following day, he made his debut and assisted

Adrian Păun Adrian Constantin Alexandru Păun (; born 1 April 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Liga I club CFR Cluj. Păun spent most of his professional career at his boyhood club CFR Cluj, fo ...

's late goal in a 2–3 loss to

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

Style of play

Golofca primarily plays as a winger on the right flank, although he has been deployed in the centre as an

or even a main striker on occasion.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Rapid CFR Suceava *

: 2011–12 CFR Cluj *

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 ...

: 2019–20, 2020–21 Sepsi OSK *

: 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 ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golofca, Catalin 1990 births Living people Footballers from Suceava Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players CSM Cetatea Suceava players ACS Foresta Suceava players FC Botoșani players FCSB players CFR Cluj players Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players CSM Slatina (football) players CSM Unirea Alba Iulia players 21st-century Romanian sportsmen