Darius Dumitru Olaru (; born 3 March 1998) 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

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 ...

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 FCSB, which he

captains 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 ...

, and 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 t ...

. After starting out at hometown side

Gaz Metan Mediaș GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д, , Gorky Automobile Plant) is a Russian automotive manufacturer located in Nizhny Novgorod, formerly known as Gorky (Го� ...

and amassing over 100 appearances in the Romanian top flight, Olaru transferred to FCSB in 2020. Internationally, he represented Romania under-21 in two editions of the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

, in

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 ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. Olaru went on to register his full debut for the country in June 2021, in a 1–2 loss to Georgia.

Club career

Gaz Metan Mediaș

Olaru made his senior debut for

on 29 August 2015, appearing in a 2–1 away win over

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 ...

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 ...

. He amassed twelve games and scored two goals during the campaign, as his hometown club returned to the

after only one year of absence. Olaru recorded his debut in the latter competition on 19 September 2016, in a 2–0 victory against defending champions

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 ...

. On 23 May 2017, he scored his first league goal from the

penalty spot The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

in a 3–0 defeat of

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, when ...

FCSB

In early 2018, Olaru signed a

precontract A precontract is a legal contract that precedes another; in particular it can refer to an existing promise of marriage with another. Such a precontract would legally nullify any later marriages into which either party entered. The practice was comm ...

with fellow Liga I side FCSB, but the move initially fell through after a transfer fee could not be agreed upon. In May the following year, 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 reinstated its interest and signed him for an undisclosed sum, with the deal seeing him join up with the squad at the start of 2020. FCSB reportedly outbid CFR Cluj for the transfer of Olaru, where he was highly regarded by manager Dan Petrescu. Olaru was officially unveiled as a FCSB player on 7 January 2020, and was assigned the number 27 jersey. He made his first appearance for the ''Roș-albaștrii'' in a 0–1 loss to CFR Cluj on 2 February, and four days later scored the opener in a 2–1 win over Voluntari. Following the conclusion of his first full season at the club, during which he played 30 matches and netted seven times in the league, Olaru was named to the 2020–21 Liga I Team of the Season by the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal.

International career

Olaru received his first call-up for the Romania national under-21 team in September 2018, and on 15 November that year scored in a 3–3

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

draw with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

. He was subsequently selected by

Mirel Rădoi Mirel Matei Rădoi (born 22 March 1981) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Tai. A defensive midfielder or a centre-back, Rădoi began his playing career at Extensiv ...

in Romania's squad for the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

, where he played two matches in the group stage and was an unused substitute as his nation exited the competition after a 2–4 defeat to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the semi-finals. Olaru's age also made him eligible for the 2021 edition of the competition, with head coach Adrian Mutu choosing him in the starting eleven in all three group fixtures of the final tournament. Romania finished with the same number of points as the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Germany, but could not progress to the knockout stage. Following Olaru's good display throughout the season, Rădoi—who was meanwhile promoted to the senior national team—handed him his full debut on 2 June 2021, in a friendly 1–2 loss to Georgia.

Style of play

After being deployed as an offensive-minded

or a winger in his beginnings, Olaru developed more into a box-to-box midfielder following his transfer to FCSB. Romanian manager

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 i ...

characterised him as "a player who is physically and mentally involved n his team both defends and attacks, also has physical strength and appears earnest".

Personal life

Olaru's parents left Romania in order to work abroad and got

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

d at some point during his childhood, leaving him mainly in the care of his grandparents. He stated that he was an ardent supporter 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 Yekaterinbu ...

growing up.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Gaz Metan Mediaș *

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 ...

: 2015–16 FCSB *

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 ...

: 2019–20 *

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:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual *

Team of the Season:

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 ...

, 2021–22 *''

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 ...

'' Romania Player of the Month: April 2022

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olaru, Darius 1998 births Living people Footballers from Mediaș Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Liga I players Liga II players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FC Steaua București players Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers