Ianis Ilie Stoica (; born 8 December 2002) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or an attacking midfielder for Liga I club Universitatea Cluj, on loan from Liga I club FCSB.

Club career

Early career

Stoica started his career in 2009 in the academy of Petrolul Ploiești, the same year his father Pompiliu signed a professional contract with the club. He left Petrolul in 2016 when it folded, and then had a six-month spell with SC Freiburg in Germany before returning to his country with FCSB, also a former club of his father.

FCSB and various loans

Stoica made his senior debut for FCSB on 25 October 2017, aged 14, in a 6–1 away rout of Sănătatea Cluj in the

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 ...

. He became the youngest player to feature in a competitive match for the club, and also scored his first goal in the process. In the winter transfer window of 2019, Stoica agreed to a loan with Dunărea Călărași for the remainder of the season, and on 17 February made his Liga I debut in a goalless draw with Voluntari. Stoica spent the following campaigns on loan in the second tier with former youth team Petrolul Ploiești, Metaloglobus București and CSM Slatina, respectively. He had his most fruitful stint with the latter, managing to score seven times from 24 games in spite of the club's relegation at the end of the 2020–21 season. On 1 August 2021, upon his return to FCSB, Stoica came off the bench to equalise late in a 1–1 league draw at UTA Arad. On the 29th that month, he scored the only goal of the ''Roș-albaștrii'' in a 1–4 away loss to four-time defending champions CFR Cluj. Following his breakthrough in the senior team, owner

George Becali George "Gigi" Becali (; born 25 June 1958) is a Romanian businessman and former politician, mostly known for his ownership of the FCSB football club. Becali was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and December 2012, and a Memb ...

announced that he rejected a €7.5 million bid for Stoica from Premier League club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, although the veridicity of his claims was questioned. On 15 December 2021, Stoica came off the bench at half-time, obtained a penalty in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and netted a goal for himself for a 3–1 derby defeat of Rapid București. On 30 January 2022, he scored again in a Bucharest derby by coming off the bench in a 3–0 win over Dinamo București. After failing to score any goal during the first half of the 2022–23 season, Stoica was sent out on a six-month loan to Universitatea Cluj on 17 December 2022.

International career

Stoica is a Romania youth international, and has represented the country at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels. On 15 August 2019, Stoica scored on debut for the under-18s in a 4–1 victory against Albania. He repeated the performance at the under-21 side on 7 September 2021, netting in a 1–1 friendly draw with Georgia.

Style of play

Stoica is a versatile attacker, being able to play on the wing or as a lone striker, but can also be deployed in a less advanced position in the midfield. Michael Yokhin of Goal noted that he "is quick, loves to dribble and improvise, and feels comfortable on both flanks", although "he would arguably be more dangerous on the left" since he is right-footed.

Personal life

Stoica's father, Pompiliu, was also a professional footballer. A left-back, he too played for FCSB—then named Steaua București—and Petrolul Ploiești.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Universitatea Cluj *

runner-up:

2022–23 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 ...

References

External links

*
FCSB official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoica, Ianis 2002 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players FC Steaua București players FC Dunărea Călărași players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FC Metaloglobus București players CSM Slatina (football) players FC Universitatea Cluj players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany