Nichita Moțpan (born 17 July 2001) is a Moldovan 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 ...

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 Russian club

Fakel Voronezh FC Fakel Voronezh (russian: Футбольный клуб "Факел" Воронеж) is a Soviet and Russian professional football club based in Voronezh. Founded in 1947, the club has played in the Soviet Top League and the Russian Premier Le ...

and the Moldova national team.

Club career

Moțpan was born in

Bălți Bălți (; russian: Бельцы, , uk, Бєльці, , yi, בעלץ ) is a city in Moldova. It is the second largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city is one of the five Moldovan municipalit ...

, Moldova. Between 2017 and 2020, he played youth football at

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

and Zaria Bălți. He started his senior career with

FC Bălți Fotbal Club Bălți is a Moldovan professional football (soccer), football club based in Bălți, founded in 1984 as ''FC Zaria Bălți'' and refounded in 2020 as ''FC Bălți''. They play in the Moldovan Super Liga, Super Liga, the top division o ...

in July 2020, where he took part in the club's promotion from the 2020–21 Moldovan "A" Division, scoring 13 goals. In March 2021, he was close to moving to Polish side

GKS Bełchatów GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Bełchatów that currently plays in the IV liga. History GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, a ...

, but the transfer fell through as FC Bălți and Moțpan could not agree on the financial terms with Bełchatów. On 1 July 2021, he made his

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Super Liga is an association football league that is currently the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when the country became independent from the Soviet Union. It was formed in ...

debut in a 1–0 win against

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnis ...

. In June 2022, he moved to

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

side

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל חיפה, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1 ...

on a one-year loan. He returned to Bălți on 1 January 2023, as Hapoel opted not to extend the loan. On 18 July 2023, Moțpan signed with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

International career

He has represented Moldova at under-17 and under-21 level. On 10 June 2022, he made his senior international debut for the country in a

2022–23 UEFA Nations League D The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League D was the fourth and lowest division of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the third season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member association ...

match against Latvia. He scored one of the goals in a 4–2 loss.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Moldova's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Moțpan also holds Russian citizenship as Nikita Motspan (russian: Никита Моцпан) and was registered by the

as a domestic player.

Notes

References

2001 births Living people Moldovan men's footballers FC Bălți players Hapoel Haifa F.C. players FC Fakel Voronezh players Moldovan Super Liga players Israeli Premier League players Russian Premier League players Sportspeople from Bălți Moldovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Moldova men's youth international footballers Moldova men's under-21 international footballers Moldova men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders {{Moldova-footy-bio-stub