Gheorghe "Gică" Craioveanu (born 14 February 1968) is a Romanian retired

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 striker. He spent most of his professional career in Spain–11 years out of 18–with

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

and

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, respectively, amassing totals of 330 matches and 70 goals in both major levels combined. A

Romanian international The Romanian International, also known as BanuInvest International Championships, is an international badminton open held in Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Eu ...

in the 1990s, Craioveanu represented the nation at the 1998 World Cup.

Club career

Craioveanu was born in

Hunedoara Hunedoara (; german: Eisenmarkt; hu, Vajdahunyad ) is a municipiu, city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southwestern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boș (''Bós''), Groș ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. After playing for modest clubs, he reached

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 ...

in January 1991 (one month shy of his 23rd birthday) after signing with

FC Universitatea Craiova U Craiova 1948, commonly known as FC U Craiova 1948 or FC U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football club based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I. It is along with CS Universitatea Craiova one of the two entities asser ...

. On 3 March he made his competition debut in a 0–1 away loss 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 ...

, but his team would eventually win the national championship with three goals from 13 appearances from the player; during his spell in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, they never ranked lower than fourth and also won two domestic cups, while he was also crowned the league's top scorer in 1994 and 1995. In summer 1995, after a combined 49 goals in his last two seasons at Universitatea, Craioveanu joined

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 ...

side

, netting 11 times in his first season to help the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

finish in seventh position. Two years later he moved to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

which were having their first top-tier experience, scoring a career-best – in Spain – 13 goals as they were immediately relegated. Craioveanu was again a very important attacking unit – 38 games, eight goals – as Villarreal promoted the year after and, already a veteran, helped to the club's domestic consolidation. In 2002 the 34-year-old signed with

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

of the second level, scoring 16 goals in 120 appearances over the course of four seasons and helping the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

team achieve a first ever top-flight promotion in his second year; he retired in June 2006, having appeared in 459 league matches during his professional career and scored a total of 131 goals.

International career

Craioveanu earned 25

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 ...

, his debut coming on 8 September 1993 in a 4–0 win in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

qualification campaign. His only major tournament was the 1998 World Cup in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where his output consisted of 33 minutes in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

0–1 defeat to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

International stats

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

Post-retirement

After retiring, Craioveanu settled in

(the city of his last club) in Madrid's

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

. During the local elections of 2007 he won a sports adviser seat on the local council, running as an independent with backing from the People's Party;Gică Craioveanu renunţă la politică (Gică Craioveanu leaves politics)
; Jurnalul Naţional, 16 June 2007 (in Romanian)Gică Craioveanu a renunţat la postul de consilier municipal la Getafe (Gică Craioveanu resigns as Getafe city counsellor)
Sport 365, 16 June 2007 (in Romanian) this was the first suffrage during which Romanian citizens were eligible in other

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

counties, following Romania's European integration. On 16 June 2007, as a result of a local alliance between the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

and '' Izquierda Unida'', which took away PP's control over the Sports Adviser seat, Craioveanu convened with the PP not to hold a political office, and resigned from the council. He also worked as a co-presenter in

La Sexta La Sexta (; "The Sixth"; stylized as laSexta) is a Spanish free-to-air television channel. It is privately owned and was originally founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV that began broadcasting on 1 April 2001, that same year. By 21 July 2003, the ...

's football programme ''Minuto y Resultado'', and a

radio commentator Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

Onda Cero Onda Cero is a Spanish radio station, a part of Atresmedia media group. It is Spain's third-largest radio station by number of listeners as of 2019. Among its programs are ''Más de Uno,'' ''Julia en la Onda,'' ''La Brújula,'' ''El Transistor,'' ...

; after his first marriage ended in divorce, he remarried with a Spanish woman named Gemma, and eventually fathered two children, one from each union.

Personal life

Craioveanu's son, Alejandro, played youth football for

Castellón de la Plana Castellón de la Plana (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló de la Plana), or simply Castellón ( ca-valencia, Castelló, link=no) is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east ...

-based CD Drac as well as Villarreal.EXCLUSIV Naționala are viitor! Craioveanu junior vrea sa fie "grande" (EXCLUSIVE National team have the future! Craioveanu junior wants to be "grande")
Digi Sport, 8 August 2017 (in Romanian)

Honours

CS Universitatea Craiova *

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 ...

: 1990–91 *

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 ...

: 1990–91 FC Universitatea Craiova *

: 1992–93 Individual *

top scorer: 1993–94 (22 goals), 1994–95 (27 goals)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Craioveanu, Gheorghe 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Hunedoara Footballers from Hunedoara County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players FC Drobeta-Turnu Severin players FC U Craiova 1948 players La Liga players Segunda División players Real Sociedad footballers Villarreal CF players Getafe CF footballers Romania men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain