Paul Viorel Anton (; born 10 May 1991) 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 played as a

defensive 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

Nemzeti Bajnokság II NB II, currently known as the Merkantil Bank Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of Hungarian football. At the end of the 2004–05 season, the tournament format was changed from one division of 14 teams to two divisions: ''Keleti ...

club

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

Club career

Early years

In 2008, Anton began his career with his hometown club Gloria Bistrița, being promoted from the juniors. In the same year, he was loaned to Delta Tulcea, where he played a season and scored 4 goals in 27

Liga II The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

matches. However, after the loan to Delta Tulcea, Anton was sent to the Gloria Bistrița's reserves, where he played a season, after being loaned to

FCM Târgu Mureș The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft ...

, and in 2010 he returned to the first team. In his first

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 ...

campaign with Bistrița, he appeared in 18 matches and scored one goal. The club relegated in 2011 and promoted back in first division a year after.

Pandurii Târgu Jiu

On 7 January 2013, Anton signed a deal with

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative bo ...

. In the 2012–13 season, he played 13 matches and scored three times in the Liga I for Pandurii, including two goals against

CS Turnu Severin Clubul Sportiv Turnu Severin was a Romanian professional football club from Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Mehedinți County, founded in 2007 and dissolved in 2013. In 2012, the team promoted to the Liga I for the first time in their short history. After ...

, helping his team in the 3–1 win. Coming as runner-ups in the league, the club earned a place in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and Anton was used as a starter in all the 10 matches played in that competition.

Dinamo București

On 7 September 2015, Anton signed a contract with

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 ...

. Three days later, he made his debut in a 2–0

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no ...

victory over his former team Pandurii Târgu Jiu. Anton scored his first goal for "the Red Dogs" in a league match with

FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football club based in Voluntari, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga I. Founded in 2010, it has been playing since the 2015–16 seas ...

on 30 November. Anton agreed to a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan deal with Spanish club

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

on 28 July 2016. He made 32 appearances and scored two goals all competitions comprised as ''El Geta'' achieved promotion to the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

Anzhi Makhachkala

On 29 December 2017, Russian team

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

signed Anton on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Two weeks before the official announcement, Romanian press reported the transfer fee at

€ 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 o ...

500,000. Anton made his debut for Anzhi on 2 March 2018, starting in a 1–1

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

draw to

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 ...

. His first goals for the club came on 17 March, when he netted both in a 2–0 win over

FC Tosno FC Tosno (russian: ФК Тосно) was a professional Russian football club based in Tosno. On 6 May 2017, Tosno won promotion to the 2017–18 Russian Premier League for the first time after securing second place in the Russian National Football ...

Krylia Sovetov Samara

On 21 August 2018, Anton signed a three-year contract with

PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara (russian: Профессиональный футбольный клуб «Крылья Советов» Самара) is a football club from Russia based in Samara. It returned to the Russian Premier League for the 20 ...

. He left Krylia Sovetov on 10 August 2020, following club's relegation from 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 ...

Ponferradina

On 28 August 2021, after one year back at Dinamo București, Anton signed for

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

in the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. On 4 September of the following year, he agreed to terminate his contract with the club.

UTA Arad

On 5 September 2022, he came back to Romania signing a contract with

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

International career

Anton made his full debut for

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 ...

on 24 March 2018, replacing

Mihai Pintilii Doru Mihai Pintilii (born 9 November 1984) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who serves as an assistant for Liga I club FCSB. A midfielder known for his combative playing style, Pintilii started out at Viitorul H ...

in the 72nd minute in a 2–1 friendly win against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

FCM Târgu Mureș *

: 2009–10 Pandurii Târgu Jiu *

runner-up: 2014–15 Dinamo București *

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 ...

runner-up: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anton, Paul 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Bistrița Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liga I players Liga II players ACF Gloria Bistrița players FC Delta Tulcea players ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players FC Dinamo București players Segunda División players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Getafe CF footballers Russian Premier League players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players SD Ponferradina players FC UTA Arad players Győri ETO FC players Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary 21st-century Romanian people