Cosmin Gabriel Matei (; born 30 September 1991) 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 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 winger 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 Sepsi OSK. Matei started out his senior career at Farul Constanța in 2008, and has since represented Steaua București,

Astra Ploiești Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the m ...

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 Yekaterinbu ...

, Viitorul Constanța and Sepsi OSK in his native country. He also competed abroad in Greece, Turkey and Croatia, respectively. Internationally, Matei earned

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 ...

for Romania at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, before making his full debut in May 2014.

Club career

Farul Constanța

Matei made his

debut for Farul Constanța on 18 October 2008, in a match against Politehnica Timișoara.

Steaua București

Matei was transferred to Steaua București in July 2010. On 22 August, he recorded his league debut by coming on as a 85th-minute substitute for

Romeo Surdu Romeo Constantin Surdu (born 12 January 1984) is a Romanian footballer and manager. Club career Born in Brașov, Surdu began his football career at FC Brașov. During the summer of 2005 he was traded to CFR Cluj. Steaua On 22 August 2007, he ...

in a 3–0 win over

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate ...

. On 4 September 2010, Matei made his debut for Steaua's reserves in a

Liga II 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 ...

game against Juventus București, entering in the 17th minute as they won 1–0.

Astra Ploiești

In June 2011, Matei was transferred to

. He did not impress during his stint in

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/km². It is Romania's third mos ...

, appearing in only five matches without scoring.

Dinamo București

In August 2012, Matei penned down a five-year contract with

, the cross-town rival of his former club Steaua. He scored his first goal in a game against

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

, on 2 May that year.

Atromitos

In January 2016, Matei moved abroad for the first time after joining Greek club

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou, a football team curr ...

for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Gençlerbirliği

On 10 August 2016,

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side Gençlerbirliği announced the signing of Matei on a three-year deal.

Viitorul Constanța

On 26 August 2019, Matei returned to Romania by agreeing to a two-year contract with Viitorul Constanța.

Return to Dinamo București

In September 2021, Matei returned to Dinamo București as one of the experienced players in a youth-oriented squad. After several unconvincing performances, he was excluded from the first team in December 2021 by manager

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 ...

. He resumed trainings the following month after Rednic's dismissal, but Dinamo continued its poor results which led to the first relegation in the club history. Matei became the first player to depart Dinamo after the relegation, only three days after featuring 73 minutes in the decisive promotion/relegation play-off match against Universitatea Cluj.
/ref>

Sepsi OSK

On 2 June 2022, shortly after Dinamo București's relegation, Matei remained in the Liga I by signing a two-year contract with Sepsi OSK. He made his debut on 9 July, in a 2–1 victory over

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

in the

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, ...

International career

Matei made his debut for the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in a friendly 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 ...

played in Switzerland, in May 2014.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Steaua București *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Dinamo București *Cupa României: 2011–12 *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Sepsi OSK *Supercupa României:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matei, Cosmin 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Târgoviște Romanian footballers Association football midfielders Liga I players FCV Farul Constanța players FC Steaua București players FC Astra Giurgiu players FC Dinamo București players Super League Greece players Atromitos F.C. players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Croatian Football League players NK Istra 1961 players FC Viitorul Constanța players Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe players Romania youth international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Croatia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia