Marius Ștefănescu (; born 14 August 1998) 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 an attacking midfielder or a winger for Liga I club

Sepsi OSK Sepsi may refer to: *László Sepsi (born 1986), Romanian footballer of Hungarian descent *Sepsi-78, a football club from Seinäjoki, Finland *ACS Sepsi SIC ACS Sepsi SIC Sfântu Gheorghe or commonly Sepsi SIC is a women's basketball professional ...

. Ștefănescu spent most of his senior career at Sepsi OSK, for which he made his professional debut in 2019, aged 20. He has since totalled over 120 appearances in the top league and aided them in winning four domestic trophies. Internationally, Ștefănescu registered his full debut for Romania in June 2022, in a 0–3 UEFA Nations League loss to Montenegro.

Club career

Born in Caracal, Ștefănescu joined the academy of

from Viitorul Cluj, with his former side retaining 50% participation rights in a co-ownership deal. Between 2017 and 2019, he was loaned out to nearby club

KSE Târgu Secuiesc Asociația Clubul Sportiv KSE Târgu Secuiesc, commonly known as KSE Târgu Secuiesc or KSE, is a Romanian professional football club based in Târgu Secuiesc, Covasna County. KSE was founded in 1912 and is the second team from Covasna (a coun ...

, where he registered his debut as a senior in the

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 ...

championship. On 12 July 2019, Ștefănescu played his first Liga I match for Sepsi by coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for

István Fülöp István Fülöp (born 4 May 1958) is a Hungarian politician, member of the National Assembly (MP) for Mátészalka Mátészalka is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. It is on the Kr ...

in a goalless draw with Voluntari. He scored his first two goals in the competition on 10 December that year, in a 4–0 thrashing of

Academica Clinceni Club Sportiv LPS HD Clinceni, commonly known as Clinceni and formerly known as ''Academica Clinceni'' is a Romanian amateur football club based in Clinceni, Ilfov County, currently playing in the Liga IV - Ilfov County. In the summer of 2022 for ...

. On 22 July 2020, he started in the 0–1 loss to FCSB in the Cupa României final. Ștefănescu recorded his debut in European competitions on 22 July 2021, in a 0–0 away draw with Spartak Trnava counting for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League. On 31 October, he scored a double in a 4–1 league defeat of

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...

. On 19 May 2022, Ștefănescu aided Sepsi in winning its first trophy after netting twice in the 2–1 win against Voluntari 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 ...

, and thus ended the season with 12 goals from 42 appearances in all competitions. In May and June 2022, he was consecutively named the Romania Player of the Month by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...

'' daily. On 21 July that year, he scored his first European goal in a 3–1 defeat of Olimpija Ljubljana in the Europa Conference League qualifiers. In the summer of 2023, Ștefănescu was heavily linked with fellow league clubs and rivals

Rapid București 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' ...

and FCSB.

International career

Ștefănescu was called up to 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 t ...

for the first time by coach

Edward Iordănescu Edward Iordănescu (; born 16 June 1978), sometimes known as Iordănescu Jr., is a Romanian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Romania national team. He represented nine teams during a rather uneventful ...

on 24 May 2022, for the four opening group games with Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Finland in the UEFA Nations League. He made his debut against the former opponent, starting in the 0–3 away loss on 14 June.

Style of play

Ștefănescu is generally deployed on the left flank in an advanced midfield position or as a winger, but has also played as a full-back on occasion.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sepsi OSK *

: 2021–22,

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 ...

; runner-up: 2019–20 *

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, ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *''

'' Romania Player of the Month: May 2022, June 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanescu, Marius 1998 births Living people People from Caracal, Romania Footballers from Olt County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Liga I players Liga III players Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe players Romania men's international footballers