Cătălin Gheorghiță Golofca (born 21 April 1990) 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 a winger or 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 ...

Career

Early career / Botoșani

Golofca joined

FC Botoșani 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 established, ...

of the Romanian first division in January 2016, aged 25, but spent the rest of the 2015–16 season on loan at former club Rapid CFR Suceava. He previously only had stints with

lower league The Lower League (''Niedere Vereinigung, inferiores confederati''), also known as the League of Constance, was a union of the four imperial cities Strasbourg, Basel, Colmar and Sélestat, formed in 1473, joined by the bishops of Basel and Strasbo ...

teams from his native

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county ('' ro, județ'') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat is the historical town ...

area. On 5 August 2016, Golofca recorded his Liga I debut in a 2–4 loss to

FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football club based in Voluntari, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga I. Founded in 2010, it has been playing since the 2015–16 seas ...

. Thirtheen days later, he scored his first goal for Botoșani in a 5–0 away thrashing of

ACS Poli Timișoara Asociația Club Sportiv Poli Timișoara (), commonly known as ACS Poli Timișoara, Poli Timișoara or simply ACS Poli, was a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Timișoara, Timiș County. The team was founded in 2012, the yea ...

. In his debut campaign at the club, Golofca amassed 34 league appearances and netted nine times.

FCSB / Return to Botoșani

After scoring three goals in the first four opening games of the

2017–18 Liga I The 2017–18 Liga I (also known as Liga 1 Betano for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs. The season began on 14 July 2017 and ended on 2 June 2018, being t ...

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 ...

announced the signing of Golofca on a four-year deal on 7 August 2017. The

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

-based team paid

€ 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 o ...

400,000 for 40% of his economic rights. On the 15th that month he played his first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

match, starting in a goalless draw with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

at the

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club mem ...

in the UEFA Champions League play-off round. Golofca's only goal at FCSB came in a

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 ...

3–0 victory over ACS Poli Timișoara, on 30 November. His poor form and rumours about his

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, c ...

made him fall out of favor and be loaned back to FC Botoșani in the 2018 winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, eventually rejoining the club on a permanent basis in the summer of that year.

CFR Cluj

On 30 August 2019, Golofca was transferred by two-time defending champions

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 ...

for an undisclosed fee. The following day, he made his debut and assisted

Adrian Păun Adrian Constantin Alexandru Păun (; born 1 April 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Păun spent most of his professional career at C ...

's late goal in a 2–3 loss to

Astra Giurgiu 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 th ...

Style of play

Golofca primarily plays as a winger on the right flank, although he has been deployed in the centre as an

or even a main striker on occasion.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Rapid CFR Suceava *

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

: 2011–12 CFR Cluj *

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 ...

: 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 ...

Sepsi OSK *

: 2021–22 *

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, ...

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:Golofca, Catalin 1990 births Living people Footballers from Suceava Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players ACS Foresta Suceava players FC Botoșani players FCSB players CFR Cluj players Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players