Marius George Țucudean (; born 30 April 1991) 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He made his senior debut with

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

in 2008, and throughout his career represented among others

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 Yekaterin ...

, Steaua București, Viitorul Constanța and

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

, winning a combined ten domestic trophies. Țucudean also had two unsuccessful spells abroad, with

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

respectively. With CFR Cluj, he was the top scorer of the Romanian first division in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, and was named the

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year (), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy (), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian player adjudged to have been the best during a calendar yea ...

for 2018 by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' newspaper. Țucudean made his first appearance for the Romania national team in November 2017, and scored his first goal for the country the following year in a 2–1 victory over

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Club career

UTA Arad

Țucudean started his career playing for hometown club

. He stayed with UTA for two years before joining

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

team

Dinamo București

He made his debut for Dinamo București on 1 April 2011 in a game against Universitatea Cluj. Țucudean made an immediate impact at the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

-based club, scoring four goals from 13 appearances in the second half of the 2010–11 season. In the following campaign he made 30 appearances and scored four goals, also recording his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

debut. On 14 July 2012, Țucudean netted twice against

in the

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), 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 Supe ...

, with Dinamo eventually winning the trophy at the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. He was named man of the match for his performance. Fifteen days later, Țucudean scored four goals and offered an assist in the opener of the

2012–13 Liga I The 2012–13 Liga I was the ninety-fifth season of Liga I, the top-level Association football, football league of Romania. The season began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 30 May 2013. CFR Cluj were the defending champions. Since Romania dropped ...

against

CSMS Iași A Cyber Security Management System is a form of Information security management system, particularly focussed on protecting automation and transport systems. The EU Cybersecurity Act, of 2019, led to the creation of UNECE working groups which develo ...

Standard Liège

On 31 January 2013, Țucudean agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract with Belgian side

, where he was wanted by coach

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

and was teammate with fellow Romanian

Adrian Cristea Adrian Cristea (born 30 November 1983) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a winger. Club career Adrian Cristea, nicknamed "Prințul" ''(The Prince)'', started his career in his hometown, Iași, playing in the lower leag ...

. After failing to score a goal in eleven league games, in the summer of the same year he rejoined Dinamo București on 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan.

Charlton Athletic

Țucudean signed a three-year deal with English club

in July 2014. On 19 August, he scored his first goal in a 3–2 win over

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. His second goal came in a 2–1 victory against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

on 21 October, a game in which he also assisted Johnnie Jackson's winner. On 28 January 2015, he was loaned out with an option to buy to Steaua București, the cross-town rival of his former team Dinamo. During his spell with the ''Roș-albaștrii'', he won the

, the

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

and the newly formed

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () 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 official recordi ...

. He returned to Charlton in September, but in January the following year Țucudean again left on loan to join ASA Târgu Mureș. His contract with Charlton was terminated on 1 July 2016.

Viitorul Constanța

On 22 March 2017, Țucudean signed with Viitorul Constanța.

CFR Cluj

Țucudean was transferred to

for an undisclosed fee on 8 January 2018. He ended the 2017–18 season as the top scorer of the league championship, a position he shared with Steaua București striker Harlem Gnohéré. Following his good display throughout the year, in late November Țucudean was nominated for ''

s 2018

award. On 21 December, he was announced as the winner of the trophy. Shortly after the start of the 2019–20 season, Țucudean temporarily retired from football in order to fully recover after undergoing two heart surgeries earlier in the year.

International career

Țucudean is a former Romania under-17 and under-19 international, having played 3 and 5 games respectively. He scored three goals for the under-21 side as well. He scored his first goal for the senior team in a 2–1 victory over

, on 24 March 2018.

Personal life

Țucudean is part of a wealthy family, their fortune being estimated by Romanian press at figures between €80 million and €100 million. His father Marius was also a footballer who played as a striker for UTA Arad, but retired at age 27 after being diagnosed with a heart disorder.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 2011–12 *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Steaua București *

: 2014–15 *Cupa României: 2014–15 *Supercupa României runner-up:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: 2014–15 Viitorul Constanța *Liga I: 2016–17 *Supercupa României runner-up:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

CFR Cluj *Liga I: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *Supercupa României:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual *

Team of the Championship play-offs: 2017–18, *''

: 2018 *

Team of the Regular Season: 2018–19, *

Team of the Season: 2018–19, *

top scorer: 2017–18 (shared Harlem Gnohéré), 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucudean, George 1991 births Living people Footballers from Arad, Romania Men's association football forwards Romanian men's footballers Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players Standard Liège players Charlton Athletic F.C. players FCSB players FC Viitorul Constanța players ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players CFR Cluj players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Romanian sportsmen