Marius Cornel Popa (born 31 July 1978) is a retired

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He started his career at the local team, Bihor Oradea in 1997 and three years later moved to

FC Naţional FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. He managed to break into the first team in 2003 and his performances have earned him a few call-ups, although Popa has not played any minute yet for the Romanian National team. He joined Poli in the winter break of the 2004/2005 season, together with National coach

Cosmin Olăroiu Cosmin Aurelian Olăroiu (born 10 June 1969) is a Romanian professional football manager and former footballer in charge of UAE Pro League Sharjah FC. As a manager, he guided Steaua Bucharest to the Romanian League title and Romanian Supercup b ...

and team-mates

Gabriel Cânu Gabriel Cânu (born 18 January 1981) is a Romanian former footballer. He was best known for his impressive height, powerful header and aerial game effective both defensively and in attack. He was also regarded for his leadership qualities, becom ...

Gabriel Caramarin Gabriel Gheorghe Caramarin (born 7 September 1977) is a Romanian football coach and former player who is current assistant manager of Jiangsu Suning. Career Caramarin was born in Măcin. He began his career at Sportul Studenţesc and made hi ...

and Gigel Coman. He has been the number one goalkeeper since arriving at Poli. However, he missed out on the Cupa României Final lost against

Rapid Bucharest Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

in the 2006/2007 season, when poor form and an injury a few weeks before the match offered youngster

Costel Pantilimon Costel Fane Pantilimon (; born 1 February 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is currently a free agent. Pantilimon began his senior career at Politehnica Timișoara. In 2011, he signed for Manchester City ...

the chance the shine. Pantilimon did not manage to hold on to his first team slot and Popa has since returned in goal. Popa has also been called up to the Romanian National team eleven times and made his debut in a friendly against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He represented his country at the

2008 UEFA European Championship The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

in Austria and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

.UEFA Euro 2008: Romania Squad
Euro 2008 Info. Retrieved 6 February 2010.

Honours

Player

Bihor Oradea *

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

: 1997–98

Coach

Luceafărul Oradea *

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Oradea Association football goalkeepers Romanian footballers Romania international footballers FC Bihor Oradea players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Liga I players Liga II players FC Progresul București players FC Internațional Curtea de Argeș players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players FC Universitatea Cluj players CS Luceafărul Oradea managers UEFA Euro 2008 players Romanian football managers {{Romania-footy-goalkeeper-stub