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 lea ...

who plays as 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. ...

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) ** Smal ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Băluță started his senior career at Chindia Târgoviște in 2011, making 44 appearances and scoring 14 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, Băluță signed with

Viitorul Constanța ''Viitorul'' ("The Future") was a daily newspaper published in the Kingdom of Romania, out of Bucharest, as a central organ of the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was formed just months after peasants' revolt of March 1907, being originally li ...

. He played his first

game on 5 August, a goalless draw 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 ...

Universitatea Craiova

Băluță moved to Universitatea Craiova for €200,000 in the summer of 2014. He made his competitive debut for the ''Alb-albaștrii'' in a

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

match with

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

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

2–1

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 only if the game is required t ...

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) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays mainly as a winger for Iranian Persian Gulf Pro League club Gol Gohar. Gustavo has competed professionally in four countries apart from his own ...

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

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

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 Wick ...

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

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 ...

for the season's Cupa României. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 27 May, he offered an assist to Alexandru Mitriță as Universitatea Craiova won 2–0 against

Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the ...

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 t ...

, 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 debut for the Romania national team on 13 June 2017, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute for Bogdan Stancu and scoring the winner in a 3–2 victory over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Style of play

Typically deployed as an

or a winger, Băluță is also capable of playing as a

false 9 In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

Personal life

Băluță's 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 b ...

Argeș Pitești Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

, and

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est * A village in Țuglui Țuglui is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, ...

, and in Hungary for

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Băluță goal''.

Honours

Chindia Târgoviște *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Universitatea Craiova *

: 2017–18 Slavia Prague *

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

: 2018–19 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), 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 1961. The winner ...

: 2018–19 FCSB *

: 2023–24, 2024–25 *

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 ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual * Digi Sport

Player of the Month: July 2017

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baluta, Alexandru 1993 births Living people Footballers from Craiova Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players FC Viitorul Constanța players CS Universitatea Craiova players FCSB players Czech First League players SK Slavia Prague players FC Slovan Liberec players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Puskás Akadémia FC players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary 21st-century Romanian sportsmen