Theodor Alexander Corbeanu (born May 17, 2002) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for 2. Bundesliga side

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

, on loan from

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, and the Canada national team.

Early life

Born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Corbeanu began playing house league soccer at the age of five with local club Quinndale Youth Soccer as a goalkeeper, but soon switched to a forward role. At youth level, he later played for local clubs Mount Hamilton SC, Hamilton Sparta SC, Saltfleet SC and Givova Academy. In late 2016, after a successful trial, Corbeanu joined the academy of

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

Club career

Toronto FC

In 2018, he played for Toronto FC III in

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

. He scored two goals in a 6–1 victory over Toronto Skillz FC on May 21, 2018.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Having left Toronto FC in August 2018, Corbeanu was unsuccessful in a trial for English club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, but was later offered a scholarship with the academy of

, in which he represented the club's U16 and U18 sides. In the summer of 2019, he joined the first team on their pre-season trip in China, before joining the club's U23 development squad in 2020. After playing nine games for the Wolves U23 team, in which he scored four goals, Corbeanu signed a professional contract with the first team in October 2020. He subsequently became a regular fixture on the Wolves bench, eventually making his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut appearance for the club on May 16, 2021, coming on as a second-half substitute in their game away to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, which ended with a 2–0 defeat.

Loan to Sheffield Wednesday

On August 2, 2021, Corbeanu joined

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on a season-long loan. He made his ''Owls'' debut in a single-goal defeat at

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

on August 28. On November 2, Corbeanu scored his first senior professional goal, with the opener in a 3–0 victory over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Loan to Milton Keynes Dons

On January 6, 2022, Corbeanu was recalled from his loan early by Wolves and sent back out on loan to another League One club,

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, for the remainder of the 2021–22 season. He made his debut on January 11 in a 1–0 home win over

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

, and four days later scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. Corbeanu went on to make 17 appearances for MK Dons as the club secured a third-placed play-off finish.

Loan to Blackpool

On July 28, 2022, Corbeanu joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on loan for the duration of the 2022–23 season. He made his debut for the club the next day as second-half substitute in a single-goal victory over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...

. On August 20, Corbeanu scored his first goal for Blackpool, netting their first in an eventual 3–3 draw against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. On January 3, 2023, he was re-called by Wolves after suffering an ankle injury, ending his time at the club.

Loan to Arminia Bielefeld

On January 20, 2023, 2. Bundesliga side

announced they had signed Corbeanu on a loan from Wolves for the remainder of the season.

International career

After not being selected for the Canadian U15 team, Corbeanu contacted the Romanian federation, who were aware of his progress. He began playing for Romania at U16 and U17 level, scoring twice in his first match with the U16 side against the Republic of Ireland. After two years with the Romanian youth teams, he left in 2019, wanting to remain eligible for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at senior level. He was called up to the Canadian senior team for the first time in December 2020, for a January training camp, but later withdrew due to club commitments with Wolves. He officially joined the senior squad for the first time in March 2021, when he was called up ahead of Canada's 2022 World Cup qualification matches against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

. He made his debut as a 77th-minute substitute against

on March 25, 2021, scoring four minutes into his debut with Canada's fifth goal in a 5–1 victory. In June 2021, Corbeanu was named in Canada's preliminary squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. On July 1, 2021, he was named in the final squad that would participate at the tournament. In December 2021, Corbeanu was named the 2021 Canada Soccer Youth Player of the Year.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Corbeanu goal.''

Honours

Individual * Canada Soccer Youth Player of the Year: 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbeanu, Theo 2002 births Living people Canadian people of Romanian descent Canadian soccer players Soccer players from Hamilton, Ontario Romanian footballers Association football forwards Canada men's international soccer players Romania youth international footballers 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players English Football League players 2. Bundesliga players Toronto FC Academy players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Arminia Bielefeld players Canadian expatriate soccer players Romanian expatriate footballers Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany