Marco Alexandru Dulca (born 11 May 1999) is a Romanian 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

club

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Club career

Early career / Viitorul Constanța

Dulca started practising football with

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

at the age of five, and remained at the club for more than a decade before joining the academy of Swansea City in 2015. He returned to Romania four years later by signing for Viitorul Constanța, where he recorded his senior debut in a 3–2

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 ...

victory over

Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

on 28 July 2019.

Chindia Târgoviște

On 30 August 2020, Dulca was loaned out to fellow league team Chindia Târgoviște. He scored his first career goal in a 2–2 home draw with Argeș Pitești on 19 December, and totalled 33 matches in all competitions during the 2020–21 season. During the summer of 2021, Dulca joined Chindia Târgoviște on a permanent basis as part of a swap deal.

FCSB

On 5 August 2022,

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...

officially announced the signing of Dulca after diverting him from his way to 1899 Hoffenheim and meeting his

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

200,000

release clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

. He made his debut the following day in a 1–1 league draw at

Mioveni Mioveni () is a town in Argeș County, Romania, approximately 15 km (9 miles) north-east of Pitești. , it had a population of 31,998. The town administers four villages: Clucereasa, Colibași, Făgetu and Racovița. History It was fir ...

Celje

On 14 September 2023, Dulca moved abroad for the first time in his senior career and signed with

outfit

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on a contract until 2026.

International career

Dulca represented the Romania national under-23 team in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Japan, starting in all three games of the group-stage exit.

Personal life

Dulca was born in

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into two wa ...

, South Korea, where his father Cristian was playing for

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

. The latter was also a professional footballer and was part of the

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 ...

squad for the

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 ...

. In 2021, it was reported that Dulca started dating

Mihaela Buzărnescu Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...

, a Romanian tennis player 11 years his senior. They ended their relationship the following year, after she accused him of

emotional abuse Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. E ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Viitorul Constanța *

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, ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Celje *

: 2023–24

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dulca, Marco 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Pohang Footballers from Cluj-Napoca Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liga I players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Swansea City A.F.C. players FC Viitorul Constanța players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players FCSB players NK Celje players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Wales Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia