Claudiu Andrei Keșerü (; born 2 December 1986) 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 le ...

who plays mainly as a striker for

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 ...

club

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

. After starting out at hometown side FC Oradea, he soon moved to

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

in 2003. Over the course of nearly eleven years in France, Keșerü represented five teams and amassed

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

and

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

totals of 240 appearances and 67 goals. In 2014, he returned to his native country by signing a contract with defending champions

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...

. Keșerü also had a brief spell with

Al-Gharafa Al-Gharafa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari multisports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan. It is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was estab ...

in Qatar, before moving to Ludogorets Razgrad in the summer of 2015, where he netted more than 110 times in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

. He became the foreign player with the most goals in the latter competition, and is also the only foreigner to become top scorer more than once. Keșerü made his first senior international appearance 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 ...

in October 2013, in a 4–0 defeat of

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. He has since earned over 40

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and was included in the squad that participated at the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Club career

Bihor Oradea

A youth product of Bihor Oradea, Keșerü was discovered and trained by Alexandru Gergely, former player in the 1970s golden team of FC Bihor. After its promotion in the senior squad, he played a season 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 ...

for his hometown club and scored 2 goals in 13 matches, as "the Red and Blues" earned promotion to the

. His first match in the latter competition was on 23 August 2003, a goalless draw with Petrolul Ploiești.

Nantes

In 2003, he was brought to France by

. Initially included in the second team, he was promoted after a season and made his

debut. He played for Nantes for four years, scoring 11 goals in 81 matches. He was relegated with the club to

in 2007 and promoted a year later. In 2008, Keșerü was loaned by Nantes to the

side

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émil ...

. Mainly a substitute, he scored 11 goals in 17 matches. The following season, he was loaned to another second division side,

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, where he netted 7 times in 12 matches.

Angers

In 2010, Keșerü was loaned by Nantes to

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

. In his first season spent there, he scored 4 goals in 14 matches, and was bought from Nantes after the end of loan period. He spent three years with Angers, imposing himself as a regular starter.

Bastia

Despite interest from

and Olympiacos Piraeus, Keșerü remained in France, where he signed with

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

. On 31 August 2013, he scored his first goal for Bastia in a 2–1 win over

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. He played 16 matches in Ligue 1, but failed to impress, and left the club in the winter of 2014.

FCSB

In January 2014, Keșerü joined defending Romanian champions

, with whom he won the league title and played the final of the Romanian Cup. His first goal in a European competition came in the 2–2 draw against

Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of K ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

's third qualifying round. Keșerü broke the club record for goals in a single game, scoring all six goals in a 6–0 win against

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 bo ...

on 15 August 2014. The record was previously held by his coach,

Constantin Gâlcă Constantin Gâlcă (born 8 March 1972) is a Romanian former footballer, and a manager, who was most recently manager of Saudi Professional League club Al-Hazem. Equally at ease as a defensive or central midfielder and possessing an accurate lo ...

, who scored five times in a 5–0 victory over FC Brașov in 1994. It was the first time that a player scored six goals in a

game since 9 June 1993, when Marian Popa of Farul Constanța accomplished the feat in a 6–3 success against Oțelul Galați. On 18 September 2014, in the first matchday of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group stage, a 6–0 win over

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

, Keșerü netted a

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 ...

in just 12 minutes, between the 61st and 72nd minutes, resulting in the fastest hat-trick in the competition's history.

Al-Gharafa

In February 2015, Keșerü signed with Qatari side

on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Ludogorets Razgrad

Keșerü then signed a three-year contract in August 2015 with Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad worth

€ 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 ...

700,000 per annum, becoming the highest-paid player ever for ''The Eagles''. In his first season, the team won the championship, and Keșerü became its top striker with 15 goals. Keșerü scored an equalizer against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in the first leg of third qualifying round of the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

, and then another equalizer in the second leg away match against

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

in the play-off, helping his team to qualify for the group stage. He scored his maiden goal in the Champions League groups to give a 2–0 lead in the home match against English club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, but Ludogorets eventually lost by 2–3. On 28 October 2016, Keșerü scored his first hat-trick for Ludogorets in a league match against

Dunav Ruse FC Dunav ( bg, Дунав, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part o ...

, a feat that he repeated later in the season against

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa Lokomotiv ( bg, Локомотив) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Gorna Oryahovitsa, which currently competes in the Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football. Established in 1932 as a sports association of the rai ...

. Eventually, with 22 goals, Keșerü became top goalscorer of the 2016–17 Bulgarian championship and won back-to-back titles with Ludogorets. Keșerü went on to score two goals in the second leg home match against

FK Žalgiris Futbolo klubas Žalgiris, commonly known as FK Žalgiris, Žalgiris Vilnius or simply Žalgiris, is a Lithuanian professional football club based in Vilnius. The club competes in the A Lyga, the top flight of Lithuanian football. The club wa ...

in the second qualifying round of the

2017–18 UEFA Champions League The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League was the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

which Ludogorets won 5–3 on aggregate. Keșerü won the Bulgarian championship for a third time in the 2017–18 season, also becoming top goalscorer of the league with 26 goals. He also scored the winning goal in the

2018 Bulgarian Supercup The 2018 Bulgarian Supercup was the 15th Bulgarian Supercup, an annual Bulgarian football match played between the winners of the previous season's First Professional Football League and Bulgarian Cup. The game was played between the champions of ...

final. On 7 October 2018, he contributed three goals in a 4–1 away win over

Botev Vratsa Botev ( bg, Ботев) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Since 1948, Botev have played their home games at St ...

, thus becoming the foreigner with the most

s in the

A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

, having managed the feat on five separate occasions. On 19 September 2019, Keșerü scored three goals in the 5:1 home win against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

in a UEFA Europa League group stage match. In May 2020, Keșerü extended his contract with the team for two more years. Prior to the 2021-22 season Keșerü lost his status as a first team regular, not being included among the squad members for Ludogorets' second qualifying round match in the Champions League. He left the team in late August 2021.

Return to FCSB

After Keșerü terminated his contract with Ludogorets Razgrad, he came back to

on 31 August 2021 for his second time. On 12 September, he scored for FCSB in Romanian's Liga I against FC Dinamo Bucuresti in the eternal derby. FCSB won that match with 6-0. After having a conflict with club's owner, George Becali, ordered the coach to keep Keșerü out of the team, till his contract will expire. He left the club on 30 May.

UTA Arad

After leaving

, Keșerü signed a 2 year contract with

side

International career

Claudiu Keșerü (cropped) - Sweden vs Romania 23 March 2019

On 11 October 2013, Keșerü made his full debut for

in a 4–0 win against

, scoring the first goal of the match. He was selected in Romania's squad for

, playing the full 90 minutes in the second group match 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 ...

. This was Keșerü's only appearance of the tournament, as his country finished bottom of the group. In 2019, he scored 5 goals in 3 games for Romania vs Sweden, Faroe islands and Norway.

Personal life

Keșerü is of partial Hungarian descent but doesn't speak the language. Keșerü has been married since 2012. On 22 December 2016, his spouse Laura Dorina gave birth to a son.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Nantes *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Steaua București *

: 2013–14 , 2014–15 * Cupa Romaniei: 2014–15 *

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) 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 ...

: 2014–15 *

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, ...

runner-up:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Ludogorets Razgrad *

: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

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 ...

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

runner-up: 2017–18 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Season: 2012–13 *''

Gazeta Sporturilor ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

runner-up: 2014 *

top scorer: 2016–17 (22 goals), 2017–18 (26 goals),

(18 goals) *Best foreign player in the

: 2019

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keseru, Claudiu 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Oradea Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Romanian footballers Association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players FC Bihor Oradea players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players FC Nantes players FC Libourne players Tours FC players Angers SCO players SC Bastia players FC Steaua București players FC UTA Arad players Qatar Stars League players Al-Gharafa SC players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad II players Romania under-21 international footballers Romania international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Qatar Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria