Cătălin Munteanu (born 26 January 1979) is a Romanian former 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 played as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Cătălin Munteanu, nicknamed "Cap de Zmeu" ''(Head of Zmeu)'' was born on 26 January 1979 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 ...

. Munteanu started to play senior football at Steaua București, making his

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 ...

debut on 16 March 1997 in a 3–1 victory against

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' ...

. In his first season spent at the club, he helped the club win The Double, making 12

appearances and scoring 5 goals. In the following season he helped Steaua win another title, being the team's top-goalscorer with 17 goals scored in 33 matches, also he started to play in European competitions, scoring one goal in his debut in the first leg of the 5–3 victory on aggregate against CSKA Sofia in the 1997–98 Champions League first qualifying round and two goals that helped the team pass Bastia with the away goal rule in the 3–3 on aggregate in the second round of the

1997–98 UEFA Cup The 1997–98 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale in an all-Italian final against Lazio. It was their third title in eight years in the competition. It was the first instance of the UEFA Cup final being a one-game contest at a neutral stadium, ha ...

. Salamanca paid €3.6 million for Munteanu's transfer from Steaua in 1998, where he played in the first two leagues until 2001, being colleague with fellow Romanians Bogdan Stelea and

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 ...

, also during that period the club was nicknamed "Salamanca Rumana", because

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 Gabriel Popescu may refer to: * Gabriel Popescu (footballer) (born 1973), Romanian footballer * Gabriel Popescu (scientist) (1971—2022), Romanian-American scientist See also * Gabriel–Popescu theorem In mathematics, the Gabriel–Popescu the ...

also played for the club around that period. He was bought by

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, but did not play a single game there, being loaned for one season at

Espanyol Barcelona Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

and then at

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

where he played for two seasons, in the first one he helped the club promote from the second division to the first. Afterwards he went to play for Real Murcia in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

where he suffered a knee injury that kept him off the field for six months. Munteanu went back to Romania in the middle of the 2005–06 season, signing with

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 ...

, where in the following season he scored 4 goals in 32 appearances, including opening the score with a spectacular goal from 27 meters in a 4–2 victory in a

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

against Steaua, helping the team win the title, also appearing in 12 matches in which he scored 3 goals, including one goal in the 3–1 loss on aggregate against Benfica as the club reached the sixteenths-finals of the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match ...

. In 2008, Munteanu left Dinamo to go play for two seasons at FC Brașov, after which he came back to play for ''The Red Dogs'' for a second spell of four seasons in which he won 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 ...

and a

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, ...

, after which he ended his career by playing another half of year at FC Brașov and a half a year at Viitorul Constanța where on 15 March 2015 he made his last

appearance in a 2–1 away victory against CFR Cluj. Cătălin Munteanu has a total of 56 matches and four goals scored in

, 107 matches and 19 goals scored in Segunda División, 280 games and 37 goals scored in

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 ...

and 36 games played with 8 goals scored in European competitions.

International career

Cătălin Munteanu played 17 matches and scored one goal 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 ...

, making his debut on 19 November 1997, when 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 February ...

sent him on the field in order to replace

Viorel Moldovan Viorel Dinu Moldovan (born 8 July 1972) is a Romanian former professional football forward and currently a manager. He was an important player for the Romanian national team in the 1990s. Career Moldovan was born in Bistrița. At club level, ...

at half-time in a friendly which ended 1–1 against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

played on Lluís Sitjar Stadium from

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

. He played four games and scored one goal at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers, but was not a part of the squad that played at the final tournament. He played 5 games at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, including his last appearance for the national team which took place on 2 June 2001 in a 2–0 victory against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Career statistics

Club

International stats

International

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

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1996–97 Dinamo București *

: 2006–07 *

: 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Catalin 1979 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers FC Steaua București players UD Salamanca players Atlético Madrid footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Albacete Balompié players Real Murcia players FC Dinamo București players FC Brașov (1936) players FC Viitorul Constanța players Liga I players La Liga players Segunda División players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian football managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers