Vasile Maftei (born 1 January 1981) is a

Romania 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 ...

n retired

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 ...

who played as a defender. He was best known for his leadership qualities, becoming captain for

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

Unirea Urziceni Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Urziceni, commonly known as FC Urziceni (), is a Romanian professional football club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County which currently plays in fourth division, Ialomița County. Unirea became national champion ...

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, wh ...

and

Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...

. Although primarily a

central defender 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 ...

, when needed he operated 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 ...

. Maftei was formed at

, where he became a key part of the team, winning one league title in 2003, one

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

and one Super Cup in 2002. In 2004, following the departure of

Adrian Iencsi Adrian Mihai Iencsi (born 15 March 1975 in Piatra Neamț) is a Romanian former football player and currently a manager. As a footballer, he enjoyed spells at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ, Rapid București, FC Spartak Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Apollon L ...

, he was appointed captain and won two Romanian Cups in a row in 2006 and 2007 and one Super Cup in 2007. He also reached the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

quarter-finals with Rapid in 2006, where they were eliminated by Steaua București. On 26 February 2006, Maftei was called up to the Romania team for the first time, as a replacement for the injured

Dorin Goian Dorin Nicolae Goian (born 12 December 1980) is a Romanian professional football manager and former football player. He is currently the manager of Liga III side Foresta Suceava. Club career Early years (1997–2005) In 1997, he signed for For ...

. Two days later, he scored on his Romania debut against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

from a header, in a 2–0 win for his country. Overall, he managed 12 caps for Romania.

Club statistics

International career

*He made his international debut on 28 February 2006.

International stats

International goals

Honours

Club

Rapid București * Divizia A: 2002–03 * Cupa României: 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07 * Supercupa României: 2002, 2003, 2007 * Liga IV – Bucharest: 2017–18 CFR Cluj *

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

: 2011–12 * Cupa României runner-up:

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 ...

* Supercupa României runner-up:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

FC Voluntari * Cupa României: 2016–17 * Supercupa României:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maftei, Vasile 1981 births Living people People from Fălticeni Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football defenders Liga I players FC Rapid București players FC Unirea Urziceni players CFR Cluj players CS Concordia Chiajna players FC Voluntari players