Alexandru Mihail Băluță (; born 13 September 1993) 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

or a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia.

Club career

Early years

Băluță started his senior career at AFC Chindia Târgoviște in 2011, making 44 appearances and scoring fourteen goals in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

over the course of two seasons. In 2013, he signed with Viitorul Constanța, for which he played his first

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

game against

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 ...

on 5 August.

Universitatea Craiova

Băluță moved to

CS Universitatea Craiova U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

200,000 in the summer of 2014. He made his competitive debut for the ''Alb-albaștrii'' in a

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) was Romania's secondary club association football, football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first crea ...

match with

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

on 16 July, featuring the full 90 minutes in the 0–1 away loss. Băluță scored his first goal in a Cupa României 2–1

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

victory over his former club Viitorul, on 29 October 2014. In the summer of 2017, Băluță changed his squad number from 22 to 10, previously worn by

Gustavo Vagenin Gustavo di Mauro Vagenin (born 14 November 1991), known as Gustavo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Iranian club Tractor SC as an winger. He has competed professionally in four countries apart from his own, mainly Italy. ...

who also switched to number 7. In August that year, Craiova refused to negotiate with

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

for the transfer of the player. On 19 April 2018, Băluță netted the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of his professional career, contributing to a 5–1 home success against

FC Botoșani 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 established, ...

for the season's Cupa României. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

on 27 May, he offered an assist to

Alexandru Mitriță Alexandru Ionuț Mitriță (; born 8 February 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Saudi Professional League club Al-Raed, on loan from MLS club New York City FC, and the Romania natio ...

as Universitatea Craiova won 2–0 against

Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

Slavia Prague

On 22 June 2018, Băluță signed a four-year contract with Czech team

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

, being assigned the number 20 shirt. Press reported the transfer fee at €3 million.

Puskás Akadémia

On 31 July 2020, Băluță signed a three-year contract with Hungarian team Puskás Akadémia.

International career

Băluță made his senior international debut for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 13 June 2017, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute for

Bogdan Stancu Bogdan Sorin Stancu (; born 28 June 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Stancu started his professional career at Argeș Pitești, and had a brief loan spell at Mioveni. Due to an irregularity in his contract he ...

and managing to score the winner in a 3–2 victory over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Style of play

Typically an

or a winger, Băluță is also capable of playing in a more offensive role, being deployed by coach

Devis Mangia Devis Mangia (; born 6 June 1974) is an Italian association football manager, most recently in charge of the Malta national football team. Managing career Early years Mangia started his coaching career at age 30, working alongside Sean Sogliano ...

as a

false 9 Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

in the 3–4–3 formation during his last season at Universitatea Craiova.

Personal life

His father, Dumitru, was also a footballer and played in Romania for

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative ...

, Argeș Pitești,

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est The Jiul de Est ("Eastern Jiu", previously also known as ) is a headwater of the river Jiu in Romania. Its source is in the Șureanu Mountains. At ...

and in Hungary for

Kecskeméti TE Kecskeméti Testedző Egyesület, commonly known as Kecskeméti TE or simply Kecskemét, is a sports club based in Kecskemét, Hungary. It is most famous for its football team which competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the first tier of Hu ...

Career statistics

Club

International

(Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Băluță goal)

Honours

Club

Universitatea Craiova * Cupa României: 2017–18 Slavia Prague *

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

: 2018–19 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup ( cs, Pohár FAČR), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 19 ...

: 2018–19 Puskás Akadémia *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

: Runner-Up

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual

DigiSport Digi Communications, also known as RCS & RDS, is a Romanian telecommunication holding company operating in Romania, Hungary, Spain and Italy. Digi was founded by Zoltán Teszári, who is the majority owner, and it is listed on the Bucharest Sto ...

Liga I Player of the Month: July 2017

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baluta, Alexandru 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Craiova Romanian footballers Association football midfielders Association football wingers Association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players FC Viitorul Constanța players CS Universitatea Craiova players Czech First League players SK Slavia Prague players Romania youth international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic FC Slovan Liberec players Expatriate footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Puskás Akadémia FC players