Raul Axente Ciupe (born 24 November 1983) is a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

former

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

right 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 ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for teams such as Sportul Studențesc, Universitatea Cluj or Sănătatea Cluj, among others.

Career

After playing for

Gaz Metan Mediaș Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

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 ...

, Ciupe made his top-flight debut on 31 July 2004 as a Sportul Studențesc player, in a match against Unirea Alba-Iulia. Playing for the

Romania national under-21 football team The Romania national under-21 football team, also known as Romania under-21s or Romania U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the Romania national football team. This team is for Romanian players aged under 21 at the start of the cale ...

in a match against

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, he was fouled by

Goran Popov Goran Popov (; born 2 October 1984) is a Macedonian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Popov started his career with local side FK Belasica, Belasica and moved to Gree ...

and suffered a broken

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

. Minutes earlier, another Macedonian player, Hristijan Kirovski, was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

after also fouling Ciupe. The right-back completely missed the 2005–2006 season because of the injury. Ciupe played seven years for Sportul Studențesc before joining FC Brașov in November 2011. In June 2012 he was transferred by his hometown team Universitatea Cluj for whom he managed to score his first goals in

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 ...

, against

Astra Ploiești Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian Association football, football Club (organization), club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ' ...

and the local rivals from

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 ...

References

External links

Profile on Universitatea Cluj official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciupe, Raul Living people 1984 births Footballers from Cluj-Napoca Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FC Sportul Studențesc București players FC Brașov (1936) players FC Universitatea Cluj players FC Viitorul Constanța players 21st-century Romanian sportsmen