Marius Cornel Popa (born 31 July 1978) is a retired

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 ...

n football player. He started his career at the local team, Bihor Oradea in 1997 and three years later moved to FC Naţional. He managed to break into the first team in 2003 and his performances have earned him a few call-ups, although Popa has not played any minute yet for the Romanian National team. He joined Poli in the winter break of the 2004/2005 season, together with National coach

Cosmin Olăroiu Cosmin Aurelian Olăroiu (born 10 June 1969) is a Romanian professional football manager and former footballer in charge of UAE Pro League Sharjah FC. As a manager, he guided Steaua Bucharest to the Romanian League title and Romanian Supercup b ...

and team-mates Gabriel Cânu, Gabriel Caramarin and Gigel Coman. He has been the number one goalkeeper since arriving at Poli. However, he missed out on the Cupa României Final lost against Rapid Bucharest in the 2006/2007 season, when poor form and an injury a few weeks before the match offered youngster

Costel Pantilimon Costel Fane Pantilimon (; born 1 February 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is currently a free agent. Pantilimon began his senior career at Politehnica Timișoara. In 2011, he signed for Manchester City ...

the chance the shine. Pantilimon did not manage to hold on to his first team slot and Popa has since returned in goal. Popa has also been called up to the Romanian National team eleven times and made his debut in a friendly against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. He represented his country at the

2008 UEFA European Championship The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

in Austria and Switzerland.UEFA Euro 2008: Romania Squad
Euro 2008 Info. Retrieved 6 February 2010.

Honours

Player

Bihor Oradea * Divizia C: 1997–98

Coach

Luceafărul Oradea *

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Oradea Association football goalkeepers Romanian footballers Romania international footballers FC Bihor Oradea players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Liga I players Liga II players FC Progresul București players FC Internațional Curtea de Argeș players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players FC Universitatea Cluj players CS Luceafărul Oradea managers UEFA Euro 2008 players Romanian football managers {{Romania-footy-goalkeeper-stub