Vlad Iulian Chiricheș (; born 14 November 1989) 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 for club

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

s the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and t ...

. Primarily a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he can also be deployed as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or a defensive midfielder. Chiricheș spent the first part of his senior career with Internațional Curtea de Argeș, Pandurii Târgu Jiu and Steaua București. He helped the latter to a

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 ...

title and a

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, ...

, before transferring in 2013 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 ...

in a then- Romania record sale of

€ 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 ...

9.5 million. After two seasons in the

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 ...

, he signed for Napoli in Italy. In 2020, following an initial loan, Chiricheș was acquired by

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

for a €11 million fee. A full international for Romania since September 2011, Chiricheș has earned over 70 caps for the country and represented it at the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Club career

Early career

Chiricheș began his youth career in his hometown as a midfielder at LPS Bacău, and even played as a striker a few years later when he moved to Ardealul Cluj. At the latter side, he was teammates with also future Romanian internationals

Mihai Răduț Mihai Cosmin Răduț (born 18 March 1990) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga I club Voluntari. Răduț started out at Internațional Curtea de Argeș in 2009, and one year later earned a transfer to Steau ...

and

Alexandru Maxim Alexandru Iulian Maxim (; born 8 July 1990) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş, on loan from Gaziantep, and the Romania national team. Maxim recorded his professional debut ...

. In 2007, Chiricheș moved to Portuguese team Benfica. Upon his return to Romania after twelve months spent in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Chiricheș joined lower league club Internațional Curtea de Argeș and helped them achieve promotion to the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

in 2009. In 2010, shortly after Internațional was dissolved, he moved alongside many of his teammates to Pandurii Târgu Jiu. Chiricheș was close to sign for

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministry ...

instead, but their coach Victor Pițurcă did not agree with the transfer.

Steaua București

After one season in

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polata, ...

, Chiricheș eventually sealed a transfer to Steaua București for a reported sum of

700,000 and 25% interest to Pandurii in case of a future move. Steaua paid €500,000 for the remaining procents of the co-ownership in August 2013, making the total transfer sum to €1.2 million. On 25 October 2012, he scored an overhead volley from near the penalty spot in a 2–0 win against

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

in the

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 ...

, which put Steaua in control of

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting) Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were a ...

. Chiricheș scored from long range against Ajax on 21 February 2013, canceling out a two-goal first-leg deficit as Steaua triumphed in the penalty shoot-out to set up a round of 16 meeting with 2012 Champions League winners Chelsea. He scored again away, an equalising goal to make it 1–1 with a fine close-range finish on the stroke of half-time in the 3–1 second leg loss against "the Blues" at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

after Steaua won the first leg 1–0.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 30 August 2013,

paid €9.5 million for the signing of Chiricheș from Steaua, which at the moment made him the biggest sale of the Romanian championship. He recorded his competitive debut in a 4–0 League Cup victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, on 24 September. His

debut was also an away game against Villa, a 2–0 win on 20 October in which the fans voted him

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 ...

. On 4 December, Chiricheș scored his first goal for the team, an equaliser from outside the penalty box in a 2–1 victory over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Towards the end of the 2015 winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, Italian side

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

offered €500,000 to take Chiricheș on a six-month loan, which was deemed too low by Tottenham and subsequently rejected. On 9 May 2015, he was sent off for two bookings as his team lost 3–0 to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

at the Britannia Stadium.

Napoli

On 30 July 2015,

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

team Napoli signed Chiricheș on a four-year deal for a £4.5 million fee. He made his league debut for the club in a 1–2 home loss to

. On 10 September 2018, it was announced that Chiricheș suffered damage to his anterior cruciate ligament which would sideline him for most of the

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 ...

Sassuolo

On 2 September 2019, Chiricheș joined fellow-Serie A club Sassuolo on loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the

. Chiricheș eventually left Napoli in the summer of 2020 for a fee of €11 million.

Cremonese

On 8 July 2022, Cremonese announced the signing of Chiricheș.

International career

Chiriches made his debut for the senior team in an UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

on 2 September 2011. On 14 August 2013, Chiricheș became the captain of Romania, in the friendly draw 1–1 over

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. His competitive debut as captain was on 6 September, a 3–0 victory against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, in a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying 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 by ...

game. He played his fiftieth match for the national team on 5 October 2017, against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, in a 3–1

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

win, match in which he captained Romania.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Steaua București *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Tottenham Hotspur * League Cup runner-up: 2014–15 Individual *''

Gazeta Sporturilor ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

: 2013; runner-up: 2012

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiriches, Vlad Sportspeople from Bacău 1989 births Living people Romanian footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Romania international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players Premier League players Serie A players FC Internațional Curtea de Argeș players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players FC Steaua București players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players U.S. Cremonese players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy UEFA Euro 2016 players