Pavel Cristian Balaj (born 17 August 1971 in

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș ...

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ� ...

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 ...

) is a

n former

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 and retired referee. On 18 January 2019, Balaj was elected

Romanian Anti-Doping Agency Romanian Anti-Doping Agency, established in 2005, is the Romanian National Anti-Doping Agency (''Agenţia Naţională Anti-Doping''/ANAD), affiliated to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The institution is subordinated to the Government of Romani ...

President. Subsequently, on 4 November 2021, Balaj signed with

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 ...

4 times champion club

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

as their new president, after the departure of Marian Copilu earlier in 2021.

Career

As a player, Balaj represented

FC Baia Mare CS Minaur Baia Mare, commonly known as Minaur Baia Mare, simply as Baia Mare or unofficially as ''Minerul Baia Mare'', is a Romanian Association football, football Football club, club, based in Baia Mare, Maramureș County, northern Romania, fo ...

and Pécsi Mecsek FC. He became a referee in 1994, entered Romania's

in 2000, and earned

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

certification in 2003. At international level, Balaj has served as a referee in qualifying rounds for

Euro 2008 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 ...

and

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, as well as

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 World Cup qualifiers The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined b ...

.FIFA
"Match Report – Armenia – Czech Republic 0:3 (0:0)"
March 26, 2013. Retrieved on May 2, 2013.

References

External links

Profile

worldreferee.com
1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Baia Mare CS Minaur Baia Mare (football) players Romanian football referees Association football midfielders Romanian footballers {{Romania-footy-midfielder-stub