Iulian Sebastian Filipescu (born 29 March 1974) is a Romanian former 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 played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Filipescu was born in Slatina,

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

. He debuted in

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 ...

with Steaua București in 1992, where he won seven domestic trophies. In 1997, he moved abroad joining Turkish team

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

where he won three trophies. Later he joined Primera División club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

, and played four and a half seasons there before joining

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

. He retired in 2008 after he spent to seasons at

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

. During the 2006 Swiss Championship

FC Basel 1893 Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 21 times, Swiss Cup winners 1 ...

were atop the league table, leading Zürich by three points heading into the last game of the season. Both teams met at that last game at

St. Jakob Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

, where Zürich needed to win to tie with Basel on points and take the title on superior goal differential.

Alhassane Keita Alhassane Keita Otchico (born 26 June 1983), known as Keita, is a Guinean footballer who most recently played as a striker for American club Jacksonville Armada FC. Club career Keita was born in Conakry. After beginning his professional career ...

scored in the 31st minute and gave Zurich the advantage,

Mladen Petrić Mladen Petrić (; born 1 January 1981) is a retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. During his career, he played for Grasshopper Club Zürich, Grasshopper, FC Basel, Basel, B ...

tying it at 1–1 in the 73rd minute. In the 93rd, Filipescu scored the game-winning goal past Pascal Zuberbühler, with Zürich winning both the game 2–1 and the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

title. After the final whistle, Basel fans stormed the pitch and chased the Zürich players and officials. Filipescu was the main target for scoring the winning goal and was almost hit by a large firework.

International career

Filipescu made his debut for the Romania national team in 1996 against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, and represented his country at the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. He played his last international match in 2003, earning 52 caps and scoring one goal.

Career statistics

:''Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Filipescu goal.''

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96 *

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 ...

: 1995–96 *

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 ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Galatasaray * 1.Lig: 1996–97, 1997–98 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

runner-up: 1997–98 Zürich *

: 2005–06 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Filipescu, Iulian 1974 births Living people Footballers from Slatina, Romania Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players Liga I players Liga II players La Liga players Segunda División players Süper Lig players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Faur București players FCSB players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Real Betis players FC Zürich players MSV Duisburg players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 20th-century Romanian sportsmen