Iulian Sebastian Filipescu (born 29 March 1974) 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 le ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He debuted in Divizia A with Steaua București in 1993 and became part of a league championship winning team for seven seasons in a row from 1993 to 1999: five titles with Steaua and two with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

in Turkey. He then joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

of Spain, and played four and a half seasons there before joining

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

in the Swiss Super League. Filipescu made his debut for the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in 1996 against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, and represented his country at the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. He played his last international match in 2003, earning 52 caps and scoring one goal.

Career

Filipescu was born in Slatina. During the 2006 Swiss Championship

FC Basel 1893 Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

were atop the league table, leading Zürich by three points heading into the last game of the season. Both teams met at that last game at St. Jakob Park, where Zürich needed to win to tie with Basel on points and take the title on superior goal differential. Alhassane Keita scored in the 31st minute and gave Zurich the advantage,

Mladen Petrić Mladen Petrić (; born 1 January 1981) is a retired Croatian professional footballer who played as a forward or striker. During his career, he played for Grasshopper, Basel, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Fulham, West Ham United and Pana ...

tying it at 1–1 in the 73rd minute. In the 93rd, Filipescu scored the game-winning goal past

Pascal Zuberbühler Pascal Zuberbühler (born 8 January 1971) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in the Swiss Super League for Grasshopper, Basel and Neuchâtel Xamax. He also had a season on loan to Bayer Leverkusen of ...

, with Zürich winning both the game 2–1 and the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

title. After the final whistle, Basel fans stormed the pitch and chased the Zürich players and officials. Filipescu was the main target for scoring the winning goal and was almost hit by a large firework.

Career statistics

Honours

Steaua București *

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 ...

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97 *

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 ...

: 1995–96 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian 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, ...

: 1994, 1995 Galatasaray *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

: 1997–98, 1998–99 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 1998–99 FC Zürich *

: 2005–06 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

: 2005

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Filipescu, Iulian 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Slatina, Romania Romanian footballers Association football defenders Romania international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players Liga I players La Liga players Süper Lig players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Faur București players CSA Steaua București footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Real Betis players FC Zürich players MSV Duisburg players Romanian expatriate footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany