Valentin Gheorghe (; born 14 February 1997) 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 a winger for

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 ...

club

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

. A product of

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

, Gheorghe had a loan spell at Afumați before going on to amass over 100 matches in the top flight for his boyhood club. Following Astra's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in 2021, he transferred back to the Liga I with

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...

. Internationally, Gheorghe was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

once for Romania at under-21 level and represented the under-23 team in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Club career

Early career / Astra Giurgiu

Gheorghe spent his formative years in the academy of

Astra Ploiești Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the m ...

, which in 2012 relocated its first-team squad to the city of

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; bg, Гюргево) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city ...

. He made his senior debut with the reserves in the lower leagues, and for the 2015–16 campaign was loaned out to

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 ...

side Afumați. Upon his return to Astra, he was promoted to the first team and recorded his professional debut at age 19, in a goalless

draw 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 ...

on 31 July 2016. On 27 October 2016, Gheorghe scored his first Astra goal in a 0–1 victory over NMM Becicherecu Mic 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 ...

. He made his

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

debut on 27 July 2017, in a 0–0 draw with

Oleksandriya Oleksandriia () is a city located in Oleksandriia Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast (region) in central Ukraine. Administratively, Oleksandriia serves as the administrative center of Oleksandriia Raion (district). Oleksandriia also hosts the administrat ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of 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 ...

. Gheorghe imposed himself as a regular in the 2018–19 season, totalling six goals from 31 appearances in all competitions. The following campaign, Gheorghe netted ten times to become Astra's second-best goalscorer in the league behind

Denis Alibec Denis Alibec (born 5 January 1991) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga I club Farul Constanța and the Romania national team. Alibec began his senior career at Farul Constanța, and at age 18 was signed by Ital ...

. He was a starter in the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and 2021 Cupa României finals lost 1–2 to Viitorul Constanța and 2–3 to Universitatea Craiova, respectively, with the

Ilie Oană Stadium Ilie Oană Stadium (Romanian: ''Stadionul Ilie Oană'') is a football stadium in Ploiești, Romania. It has been the home ground of Petrolul Ploiești since its inauguration in September 2011, and has a capacity of 15,073 spectators. The stadium ...

in his native

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...

hosting both. Gheorghe was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the latter game, the last of 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 ...

which ended in relegation for Astra.

FCSB

On 3 September 2021, Gheorghe returned to the Liga I by signing a five-year contract with

. Nine days later, he scored on debut in a 6–0

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

thrashing 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 ...

at the

Arena Națională Arena Națională () is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It opened in 2011 on the site of the Stadionul Național (1953), original National Stadium, which was demolished between 2007 and 2008. The stadium hosts major fo ...

. Mostly used a second-half substitute, Gheorghe totalled seven goals from 29 appearances in all competitions during his first year in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Loan to Ümraniyespor

Gheorghe agreed to a one-

loan deal with Turkish club

Ümraniyespor Ümraniyespor is a Turkish professional football club located in Ümraniye, Istanbul. The club plays in red and white kits, and have done so since their formation in 1938. They have secured promotion to Süper Lig for their first time 3 weeks be ...

on 29 June 2022. In the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

opener against Fenerbahçe on 8 August, he replaced Yonathan Del Valle in the 64th minute and netted a goal for an eventual 3–3 draw.

Universitatea Cluj

On 31 August 2022, Gheorghe agreed to a deal for an undisclosed period with Liga I side

International career

In June 2021, Gheorghe was selected by manager

Mirel Rădoi Mirel Matei Rădoi (born 22 March 1981) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Tai. A defensive midfielder or a centre-back, Rădoi began his playing career at Extensiv ...

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 ...

's squad for the postponed

. He started in the opening 1–0 win over

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

and entered as a substitute in the other two matches of an eventual group-stage exit. On 3 March 2023, Gheorghe received a preliminary call-up to the Romania senior team for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification matches against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, but did not make the final list.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Afumați *

: 2015–16 Astra Giurgiu *

runner-up: 2016–17, 2018–19,

2020–21 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 ...

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, ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

FCSB *

: 2023–24

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gheorghe, Valentin 1997 births Living people Footballers from Ploiești Romanian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players FC Astra Giurgiu players CS Afumați players FCSB players FC Universitatea Cluj players Süper Lig players Ümraniyespor footballers Romania men's youth international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey