Giani Stelian Kiriță (born 3 March 1977) is a Romanian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Giani Kiriță was born on 3 March 1977 in Bucharest, growing up in the Pantelimon neighborhood, where he started playing Football at around the age of 11 at the children's club, Turistul Lebăda. He started to play football at senior level at

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

club Rocar București, who after half of a season loaned him 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 Yekaterin ...

, where he made his

Divizia A 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 ...

debut on 19 April 1997 in a 3–0 victory against Universitatea Cluj. In the following season after returning to play another half of year in Divizia B at Rocar, he was transferred by Dinamo, where he would win The Double in the 1999–2000 season, coach

Cornel Dinu Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spen ...

giving him 32 league appearances in which he scored three goals, also using him all the minutes in the 2–0 win over Universitatea Craiova from the Cupa României final. He won another

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 ...

after Dinu used him the whole match in the 4–2 victory against his former side, Rocar in the 2001 final. Kiriță won his second league title in the 2001–02 season, coaches Dinu and

Marin Ion Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national under-19 team. Playing career Marin started his football career as a defender with the youth team ...

giving him 28 matches in which he scored two goals. His last trophy won with '' The Red Dogs'' was the

2002–03 Cupa României The 2002–03 Cupa României was the 65th edition of Romania's most prestigious football tournament. Dinamo București won the title by defeating Naţional București, 1–0. Format Cupa României is an annual knockout tournament. The first r ...

, being used by coach

Ioan Andone Ioan Andone (; born 15 March 1960) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player. Club career Corvinul Hunedoara Ioan Andone, nicknamed "Fălcosul" was born on 15 March 1960 in Șpălnaca , and when he was 14 years old, he playe ...

all the minutes in the 1–0 over Național București from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In 2003, Kiriță went to play in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

Samsunspor Samsunspor Kulübü, officially known as Samsunspor Football Club Joint Stock Company, or as Reeder Samsunspor due to sponsorship agreements, is a Turkey, Turkish Football club (association football), professional football club that competes in t ...

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

, Ankaragücü and

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

, with the latter managing to win the

2009–10 Süper Lig The 2009–10 Süper Lig (known as the ''Turkcell Süper Lig'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd season since its establishment. The season commenced on 7 August 2009 with İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (football team), Istanbul B.B. ho ...

while working with coach Ertuğrul Sağlam, this being the first title in the club's history which was won with one point above the team from the second place, Fenerbahçe, Kiriță appearing in eight games in which he scored one goal in a 1–0 victory against Gaziantepspor. In January 2012, he returned to play in Romania, signing with

FCM Târgu Mureș The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft C ...

, where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 May 2012 in a 2–1 loss in front of FC Brașov. Kiriță ended his career in December 2012 at

team CS Buftea, where for a while he was simultaneously the team's coach. Giani Kiriță has a total of 163 matches and nine goals scored in

, 162 appearances with 15 goals scored in

and 15 games played, without scoring in European competitions.

International career

Giani Kiriță played four games at international level for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, making his debut under coach

László Bölöni Ladislau "Loți" Iosif Bölöni (; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. After starting out at ASA Târgu Mureș (1962), ASA Târgu Mureș, Böl� ...

in a friendly which ended 1–1 with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. His second game played was also a friendly, a 2–2 against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. His last two appearances for the national team were at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers in a 2–0 away victory against

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

and a 1–1 with

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Personal life

Giani Kiriță's mother considered having an

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

when she was pregnant with him, because of the problems she had with his father which included domestic violence. His father left the family when he was three years old, Giani seeing him rarely afterwards, being raised by his mother with the help of his grandmother and older sister. He married Daniela Milu in 2000 but they divorced in 2007, they have a daughter and a son together. After he ended his football career, Kiriță appeared in several TV shows in Romania, for a while having his own TV show called ''Giani Kiriță, antrenat la Școala Vieții'' ''(Giani Kiriță, coached at the School of Hard Knocks)'' which aired on

Antena Stars Antena Stars is a Romanian television channel. It started broadcasting on 9 April 2007 and it is a part of the Intact group, owned by the family of the Romanian businessman and politician Dan Voiculescu. On 16 December 2013, at 19:02 EET, the ...

and had an amateur

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

fight that he won by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

against Andi Constantin. Kiriță is a fan of

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

, being a fan of American rapper DMX, having an exact copy of his chain and for a while he had written DMX on the license plate on one of his cars, he also is a fan of Pantelimon based group B.U.G. Mafia, personally knowing the members.

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 1999–00, 2001–02 *

: 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03 Bursaspor *

: 2009–10

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirita, Giani 1977 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers AFC Rocar București players FC Dinamo București players MKE Ankaragücü footballers Bursaspor footballers Samsunspor footballers Gaziantepspor footballers ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș players LPS HD Clinceni players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Liga I players Liga II players Süper Lig players Romanian football managers LPS HD Clinceni managers