Bogdan Gheorghe Stelea (; born 5 December 1967) is a Romanian retired

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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and a current

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. Having played professionally into his 40s, he played for all three major

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

clubs in his country's capital, and also spent a vast part of his career in Spain, mainly with

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

, also Stelea played nearly 100 times 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 ...

, and represented the nation in three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and two European Championships.

Club career

Bogdan Stelea was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

on 5 December 1967 and he started to play football at the age of 12 when he was brought by boxing coach, Dumitru Ion at the youth center of

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 ...

where he worked with Iosif Varga, also during his youth years he was teammate with future national team competitor,

Florin Prunea Florin Prunea (born 8 August 1968) is a Romanian former football goalkeeper. He was born in Bucharest and started his career for Dinamo București. His breakthrough came with U Cluj in the 1988/89 season. In 1991, he won with Universitatea Craio ...

. He made his

debut on 20 November 1986 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 2–0 victory against Oțelul Galați but shortly afterwards he was sent on loan for the second half of the season at Politehnica Iași where he did not made any appearances. Stelea returned under Lucescu's command at Dinamo, being the first choice for the goalkeeper position since 1988, replacing

Dumitru Moraru Dumitru Moraru (born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper from 1972 until 1991. Club career Dumitru Moraru was born in București, growing up in the Pantelimon neighborhood, where he started play ...

and his first performance with the team was reaching the quarter-finals of the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

after 1–1 on aggregate by

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

and in the following season he helped the club win The Double and appeared in 8 matches from the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign when the team reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht. While he was in a cantonment before a game from the 1990–91 European Cup against

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Stelea was nicknamed ''Arnold'' by

Corneliu Vadim Tudor Corneliu Vadim Tudor (; 28 November 1949 – 14 September 2015) also colloquially known as "Tribunul" was the leader of the Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare), poet, writer, journalist, and a Member of the European Parliament. H ...

who visited them because his haircut looked similar to the one of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie

Red Heat The practice of using colours to determine the temperature of a piece of (usually) ferrous metal comes from blacksmithing. Long before thermometers were widely available it was necessary to know what state the metal was in for heat treating it an ...

. In 1991–92 he was used by coach

Florin Halagian Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname ''Armeanul'' (The Armenian). He is the manager who has the most matches in Liga I with 878 games consist ...

in 11

games as the capital side won the national championship and eliminated with a 2–1 victory on aggregate

Luis Figo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish language, Spanish form of the originally Germanic language, Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese language, Portuguese and ...

's Sporting Lisabona in 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, but was transferred late in 1991 to

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

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 ...

300.000. After two seasons in Spain, with relegation in his first, he joined Belgium's

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

where he was teammate with fellow Romanian,

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 ...

but because he did not play much and risked not being selected to be part of

's 1994 World Cup squad, he quickly returned home to play for a half of year at

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' ...

. After he participated at the 1994 World Cup, Stelea went to play for one year in Turkey at

Samsunspor Samsunspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Samsun. The club was formed through a merger of five clubs: 19 Mayıs, Akınspor, Fener Gençlik, Samsunspor, and Samsunspor Galatasaray.Marius Cheregi and

Daniel Timofte Daniel Timofte (born 1 October 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder, most notably for Turkish club Samsunspor. Club career Timofte debuted in Divizia A with Jiul Petroșani in 1986. The te ...

, being brought there by coach

Gheorghe Mulțescu Gheorghe Mulțescu (; born 13 November 1951) is a Romanian professional football manager and a former football player. Club career Gheorghe Mulțescu made his Divizia A debut playing for Jiul Petroșani in a 0–0 against Crișul Oradea. He p ...

as first choice goalkeeper. Afterwards, Stelea returned again to his country and joined Steaua București, where in his two-year spell at the club, under the guidance of coach

Dumitru Dumitriu Dumitru Dumitriu (born 19 November 1945 in Bucharest), commonly known as Țiți Dumitru or Dumitriu III, is a retired Romanian footballer and coach. He is the younger brother of Emil Dumitriu ''(Dumitriu II)'' who was an International footballer ...

he helped it renew its domestic supremacy by contributing significantly to the winning of The Double in both seasons and he played 11 games in the Champions League group stage over the course of the two seasons, also he kept a clean sheet in the victory from the 1995 Supercupa României in front of Petrolul Ploiești and during this period he also had a successful trial with Sunderland, but could not negotiate a deal. In 1997, Stelea was transferred to

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

for

900.000, where he lived his most steady period, remaining with the team seven years, only punctuated by a small loan spell with Rapid in which he was used by coach

in the 2–1 victory against Dinamo from the 2002 Cupa României Final, he appeared in 191 overall games for ''Los Charros'' during his tenure whilst competing mainly 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 ...

, but spent his first two seasons in the top flight, also he was colleague with fellow Romanians Cătălin Munteanu,

Lucian Marinescu Lucian Cristian Marinescu (born 24 June 1972 in Bucharest) is a Romanian former football player and current Spanish teacher. He played for a few clubs, including Rapid Bucharest, UD Salamanca and SC Farense. He played for the Romania national ...

Ovidiu Stîngă Ovidiu Stîngă (born 5 December 1972) is a retired Romanian professional footballer and manager. Club career Born in Craiova, Stîngă began his football career at Viitorul Craiova. In 1990, he made his league debut for Universitatea Craiova ...

and Gabriel Popescu which gave the club the nickname "Salamanca Rumana". In 2004, Stelea returned at Dinamo, helping the club win the

2004–05 Cupa României The 2004–05 Cupa României was the 67th season of the annual Romanian football knockout tournament. The winners of the competition qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. First round proper , colspan=3 style="b ...

, being used by coach

Ioan Andone Ioan Andone (; born 15 March 1960) is a Romanian football coach and former player. Club career Ioan Andone, nicknamed "Fălcosul" was born on 15 March 1960 in Șpălnaca and when he was 14 years old he played basketball and football simultane ...

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 ...

where he kept a clean sheet in the victory in front of Farul Constanța. In 2005 he was brought in Greece at Akratitos together with

by his former national team colleague

Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with S ...

who was coach. In 2006, Stelea went back to Romania, signing with Oțelul Galați where he spent half of season, but did not feature in any matches because of a serious injury. The following campaign he moved to

Unirea Urziceni Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Urziceni, commonly known as FC Urziceni (), is a Romanian professional football club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County which currently plays in fourth division, Ialomița County. Unirea became national champion ...

for two seasons, being coached by his former national team colleague

Dan Petrescu Daniel Vasile Petrescu (; born 22 December 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club CFR Cluj. As a player, Petrescu was deployed as a full-back or a winger and represented Premier Leag ...

, but only in the second season he became first choice. Bogdan Stelea finally ended his 23-year long career at age 41 by the end of the 2008–09 season, playing 23 matches under coach

Răzvan Lucescu Răzvan Lucescu (; born 17 February 1969) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club PAOK. As a player, he operated as a goalkeeper and spent most years of his career ...

at FC Brașov.

International career

Bogdan Stelea played 91 games in which he conceded 72 goals at international level for

, making his debut on 23 November 1988 when coach

Emerich Jenei Emerich Jenei or Imre Jenei (also known as Emeric Jenei or Ienei; 22 March 1937) is a Romanian former football player and coach of Hungarian ethnicity. He is considered one of Romania's best Managers, alongside Ştefan Kovács, Mircea Lucesc ...

sent him on the field to replace

Silviu Lung Silviu Lung (; born 9 September 1956) is a retired Romanian football goalkeeper and current manager. Playing career Club career Silviu Lung was born on 9 September 1956 in Sânmiclăuș, Satu Mare and started to play football in 1971 at Victor ...

for the last 20 minutes of a 3–0 victory in a friendly against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. His second game was a 1–0 victory against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

at the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers, being selected by coach Jenei to be part of the squad that went at the

final tournament 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 ...

, however he was not used in any games. He played one game at the Euro 1992 qualifiers, made 6 appearances at the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers, being part of the "Golden Generation" that reached the quarter-finals of the

, but he was used by coach

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), also known as "Tata Puiu", is a Romanian former footballer and former manager of the Romania national team, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following Februar ...

in only two games from the group stage, a 3–1 victory against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and a 4–1 loss against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, as

was chosen to play in the other three games of the campaign. He played 10 games at the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers, being used by Iordănescu in two 1–0 losses against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

did not pass the group of the

. He played 8 games at the successful 1998 World Cup qualifiers, being used by Iordănescu in all the minutes of the four games from the

as the team reached the sixteenths-finals where they were eliminated after a 1–0 loss in front of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and went on to play 7 games at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers, being used by coach Jenei in all the minutes of the four games from the

as they reached the quarter-finals where they were defeated with 2–0 by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In his final years of activity at the national team, Stelea went on to play 7 games at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers including appearing in the lost play-off against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, made one appearance at the Euro 2004 qualifiers in a 3–0 victory against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, he was the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for the first and only time in his career in a 1–1 against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

in which he had a very appreciated evolution and made his final appearance on 9 February 2005 in a friendly which ended 2–2 in front of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. For representing his country during 1990–2000 at the World and European Cups final tournaments, Stelea was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a 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 between 1991 ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Controversy

On 3 June 1998, during a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, played on the Ghencea stadium, Stelea was booed by the fans after he conceded a goal by

Roberto Acuña Roberto Miguel Acuña Cabello (; born 25 March 1972) is a Paraguayan former footballer. Nicknamed ''El Toro'' (bull) due to his strength and dominating presence, he operated mainly as a central midfielder. He spent several years as a professio ...

and in response he made some obscene gestures towards them, later he said that he did that because he had a moment of weakness as his child was in the hospital, being very sick at that moment. In 2001, he had a fight with the striker

Ionel Ganea Ioan Viorel Ganea (born 10 August 1973) is a Romanian football manager and striker for Liga IV Sibiu club A.S. Fotbal Club Dumbrăveni. Playing career Ganea debuted in Liga I (Divizia A at that time) with FC Brașov in 1994. He went on to pla ...

in a training session that took part before a

–

game.

Managerial career

Bogdan Stelea started his coaching career in 2009, shortly after he retired when he worked as an assistant at Romania's national team of

, his coach from the last club he played for, FC Brașov. On 6 June 2012, Stelea became head coach of Astra Ploiești, however two months later after a home draw against

CS Turnu Severin Clubul Sportiv Turnu Severin was a Romanian professional football club from Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Mehedinți County, founded in 2007 and dissolved in 2013. In 2012, the team promoted to the Liga I for the first time in their short history. Af ...

, he was sacked and replaced with

. Afterwards he went to coach for a year Romania's under-21 national team from 2013 until 2014. In June 2014, Stelea accepted an offer from his former national team colleague,

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...

to coach his club Viitorul Constanța but resigned after not obtaining any victory in the first four rounds of the season.

Personal life

His son, Bogdan Ionuț Stelea was also a footballer, he played as a defender and spent his career in the lower leagues of Romania playing for teams like FC Snagov or Chindia Târgoviște.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 1989–90, 1991–92 * Cupa României: 1989–90, 2004–05 Steaua București *

: 1995–96, 1996–97 * Cupa României: 1995–96, 1996–97 * Supercupa României:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Rapid București * Cupa României: 2001–02

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stelea, Bogdan 1967 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian footballers Association football goalkeepers Liga I players FC Dinamo București players FC Politehnica Iași (1945) players FC Rapid București players FC Steaua București players ASC Oțelul Galați players FC Unirea Urziceni players FC Brașov (1936) players La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players UD Salamanca players Belgian Pro League players Standard Liège players Süper Lig players Samsunspor footballers Super League Greece players A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia players Romania international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Greece Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian football managers FC Astra Giurgiu managers FC Viitorul Constanţa managers