Andrei Silviu Margaritescu (born 1 January 1980) is a Romanian former footballer.

Club career

Andrei Mărgăritescu, nicknamed ''China'' was born in

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in the historical re ...

on 1 January 1980. He made his

Divizia A 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 ...

debut at age 19 on 2 November 1999, playing for

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' ...

under coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...

in a 2–1 victory against FC Brașov. After taking a red card in a game against Steaua București,

gave him to wear the captain armband in the following game in order to make him more responsible and less aggressive in his play. After only one season at

Rapid 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''. ...

, Mărgăritescu went to play four seasons in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often 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 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

for

Tractorul Brașov Tractorul Brașov was a football team from Brașov, Brașov County, Romania. History Tractorul Brașov was founded in 1927 under the name of IAR Brașov (Industria Aeronautică Română Brașov) (English: Romanian Aeronautic Industry Brașov). Th ...

Olimpia Satu Mare Fotbal Club Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare, commonly known as Olimpia Satu Mare or simply as Olimpia, is a Romanian professional football club from Satu Mare, Satu Mare County, Romania, founded on 5 May 1921, re-founded in 2010 and 2018. The club play ...

and Unirea Focşani, after which he was signed by

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 ...

, a team with who he managed to win the 2006–07 Liga I title, being used by coach

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian football coach and former player who played as a defender. Club career Mircea Rednic, nicknamed "Puriul" was born on 9 April 1962 in Hunedoara and until he was 14 years old he played table tenn ...

in 31 games in which he scored one goal, also in the same season he helped the team reach sixteenths-finals of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, playing 11 games in the campaign. In 2008, Mărgăritescu went to play alongside fellow Romanians

Florentin Petre Florentin Petre (born 15 January 1976) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Born in Bucharest, Petre started playing football at the youth center of Dinamo București, playing his first Divizia A match for ...

and

Daniel Pancu Daniel Gabriel Pancu (; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder or a forward. Club career Pancu began his playing career at FC Politehnica Iași. He made his debut in the Romanian Fir ...

in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

for

Terek Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

. He returned to Dinamo in 2009, where he would stay for one year and a half. In the 2011–12 season spent at

Mioveni Mioveni () is a town in Argeș County, Romania, approximately 15 km (9 miles) north-east of Pitești. , it had a population of 31,998. The town administers four villages: Clucereasa, Colibași, Făgetu and Racovița. History It was fir ...

, he played his last

matches, a competition in which he has a total of 156 matches played and four goals scored, he also has a total 29 games played without scoring in European competitions. Mărgăritescu spent the last years of his career playing in the Romanian lower leagues at

, Atletic Bradu, Urban Titu and SCM Pitești.

International career

Andrei Mărgăritescu played three matches 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 ...

at the Euro 2008 qualifiers, under coach

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Pițurcă was born in Orodel, Dolj County. He joined Universitatea Craiova as a youth in 1970, aged 14, and four years later he was ...

. He made his debut when he came as a substitute and replaced

Laurențiu Roșu Laurențiu Dumitru Roșu (born 26 October 1975) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as either a forward or winger, and is a manager. After four seasons at Steaua București, he spent nine years as a professional in Spain – eight i ...

in the 90th minute of a 2–0 away victory against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. His second game was a 2–0 away victory against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and his final game was the second leg against

, a 6–1 home victory. On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

, for his performance in the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, where Romania managed to qualify to

UEFA Euro 2008 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 9 to 17 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Zürich and Berne. The group was composed of 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists Italy and France, as well as the Netherlands and ...

. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.

Controversy

On 27 June 2014, Mărgăritescu received a three-year suspended sentence for buying a car while knowing it was stolen.Fostul fotbalist Andrei Mărgăritescu, condamnat trei ani de închisoare cu suspendare
27 iunie 2014, Otilia Ciocan, ''Gândul'', accesat la 28 iunie 2014

Honours

Dinamo București *

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 ...

: 2006–07 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) 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. I ...

: 2004–05 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian 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, ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaritescu, Andrei 1980 births Footballers from Pitești Living people Romanian footballers Romania men's international footballers FC Olimpia Satu Mare players FC Rapid București players CSM Focșani players FC Dinamo București players FC Akhmat Grozny players CS Mioveni players FC Argeș Pitești players Expatriate footballers in Russia Russian Premier League players Liga I players Liga II players Men's association football midfielders