Dorin Rotariu (; born 29 July 1995) 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 for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

team

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 ...

, on loan from Ludogorets Razgrad. Primarily a winger, he can also be deployed as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Rotariu moved from boyhood club Politehnica Timișoara to

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 ...

in 2012, aged 17. He amassed 122

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 ...

appearances for "the White and Reds" over the course of several seasons, and in 2017 earned a transfer abroad to

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in Belgium. Two years later, after being loaned out to

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

and

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

, Rotariu joined Kazakh team

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

with which he won three domestic honours. Internationally, he made his full debut 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 2016, and scored his first goal in a 1–0 friendly win over

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in March 2018.

Club career

Early years / Dinamo București

Rotariu played as a youngster for

FC Politehnica Timișoara Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timișoara or simply Poli Timișoara, was a Romanian football club from Timișoara, Timiș County, established in 1921 and dissolved in 2012. During its existence, the team won ...

's academy, and in September 2012 was loaned to top-flight club

. Several other teams had previously wished to sign him, including

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 ...

—the supposed successor of FC Politehnica which was dissolved during the same month of the player's transfer. Rotariu chose to join Dinamo București in order to play alongside teammates from the national under-19 squad. He stayed with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

before making his

debut against

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 ...

in March 2013, aged only 17 years and eight months. After his loan expired in the summer of 2013, Dinamo București reached a full transfer agreement with the owner of the defunct FC Politehnica society,

Marian Iancu Marian Alexandru Iancu (born 11 July 1965 in Bucharest) is a Romanian businessman, president of oil company Balkan Petroleum (UK) Limited, and was the president of Romanian football club FC Politehnica Timișoara. After living abroad until the a ...

, despite interest from fellow league side

FC Vaslui CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui (), commonly known as Sporting Vaslui, Juniorul Vaslui or simply as Vaslui, is a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and re-founded in 2014. The club is currently playin ...

. Rotariu was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, but 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 club promised to pay 50% of a future transfer fee to the businessman. On the eve of his 18th birthday, Rotariu recorded his first goal in a match against FC Vaslui, which ended 2–0. On 11 August 2013, he netted 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

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministry ...

. Twelve days later, he scored again in a 6–0 victory over

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 ...

. Rotariu was the most efficient young player in the first part of the

2016–17 Liga I The 2016–17 Liga I (also known as Liga 1 Betano for sponsorship reasons) was the 99th season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs. The season began on 22 July 2016 and concluded on 5 June 2017, bein ...

campaign, having scored six goals and offering one assist.

Club Brugge

On 31 January 2017, the last day of the 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 ...

in Belgium, it was announced that Rotariu signed a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee with defending champions

. He made his

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

debut five days later, entering the pitch as an 80th-minute substitute in a 1–0 home victory over

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

at the

Jan Breydel Stadium Jan Breydel Stadium ( nl, Jan Breydelstadion, ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Sint-Andries, Bruges, Belgium. The city-owned stadium is the home stadium of two top-flight association football clubs, Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge. It is used mainly ...

. His first goal came in a 2–1 home success over

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

, on 1 May. Rotariu agreed to a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan deal with

Royal Excel Mouscron Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional football club based in Mouscron. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between ...

on 31 August 2017, rejoining his former Dinamo București coach

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 recorded his first goals in a

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

match with

Tubize Tubize (; nl, Tubeke ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Tubize had a total population of 22,335. The total area is 32.66 km2 which gives a population density of 6 ...

on 20 September, netting twice in the 3–1 win. Rotariu was again loaned for the following campaign, this time to Dutch club

Astana

After a move to

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

fell through, Kazakh team

FC Astana Astana Football Club ( kk, Astana Futbol Kluby) is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,254-seat Astana Arena stadium. Th ...

announced the transfer of Rotariu on a four-year contract on 26 February 2019. He made his competitive debut on 3 March, as Astana won 2–0 over Kairat in the

Kazakhstan Super Cup The Kazakhstan Super Cup ( kk, Қазақстан Суперкубогы, ''Qazaqstan Sýperkýbogy'') is a one-match football annual competition. The two participating clubs are the Kazakhstan Premier League champion and the Kazakhstan Cup winne ...

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 17 June 2021, Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad announced the signing of Rotariu.

Loan to Atromitos

On 25 January 2022, he joined

on a short-term loan. On 4 July 2022, his loan was extended until the summer of 2023.

International career

Rotariu was called up to the senior

squad to face

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

in September 2016. He earned his first cap on 8 October in a 5–0 win over

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, replacing

Alexandru Chipciu Alexandru Mihăiță Chipciu (; born 18 May 1989) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays for Liga I club Universitatea Cluj. A versatile player, he is mainly deployed as a winger or an attacking midfielder, but has also been used as a ...

in the 67th minute. Rotariu scored his first goal for the full side on 27 March 2018, coming on as a 53rd-minute substitute for

Alexandru Mitriță Alexandru Ionuț Mitriță (; born 8 February 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Saudi Professional League club Al-Raed, on loan from MLS club New York City FC, and the Romania nationa ...

and netting the only goal in the friendly against

Style of play

Cristian Dulca Cristian Alexandru Dulca (born 25 October 1972) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player, who is currently in charge of the Romania women's national team. Playing career As a player, Dulca represented CFR Cluj, Gloria Bistr ...

, Rotariu's coach at the under-21 national team, said that ball control is the player's best quality, and that he advances well while looking for spaces.

Personal life

Rotariu's father Ilie was a footballer who totalled two games in the Romanian top tier, and has an identical

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

named Iosif. The latter also played for Politehnica Timișoara and the Romania national team among others.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Dinamo 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 ...

runner-up: 2015–16 *

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 ...

: 2016–17 Astana *

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

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 ...

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- ...

; runner-up:

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 ...

Individual *

DigiSport Digi Communications, also known as RCS & RDS, is a Romanian telecommunication holding company operating in Romania, Hungary, Spain and Italy. Digi was founded by Zoltán Teszári, who is the majority owner, and it is listed on the Bucharest Stoc ...

Liga I Player of the Month:

August 2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotariu, Dorin 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Timișoara Romanian footballers Association football forwards Association football wingers Liga I players Liga II players FC Politehnica Timișoara players FC Dinamo București players Belgian First Division A players Club Brugge KV players Royal Excel Mouscron players Eredivisie players AZ Alkmaar players Kazakhstan Premier League players FC Astana players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Super League Greece players Atromitos F.C. players Romania youth international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Greece Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece