Iulian Chiriță (born 2 February 1967 in

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River. Târgoviște was one of the ...

) 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 former

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 midfielder and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Club career

Iulian Chiriță was born on 2 February 1967 in

, starting to play youth level football at CSȘ Târgoviște. He started to play senior level football in 1985 at CS Târgoviște in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

. He made his Divizia A debut on 18 March 1988 under coach Ion Nunweiller in a 2–0 away loss against Universitatea Craiova, also during his period spent at the club he made his debut in European competitions, playing in both legs of the 4–1 loss on aggregate against

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in the

1989–90 UEFA Cup The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus on aggregate over Fiorentina. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competitions history and the third between two clubs of the same country. It was the last season for which ...

. He went to play for one year and a half at FC Brașov, afterwards going to play 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' ...

where he had his most successful period of his career, playing 132 Divizia A matches in which he scored 40 goals, being for a while the team's captain, scoring a goal in the 1995 Cupa României Final which was lost in front of Petrolul Ploiești and appeared in 12 games in which he scored 3 goals in 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 ...

. After his spell with Rapid ended, Chiriță returned for a short while at FC Brașov, afterwards going at

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 Yekaterin ...

and Argeș Pitești, ending his career at in the

1998–99 Divizia B The 1998–99 Divizia B was the 59th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to two series, each of them having 18 teams. At the end of the season, the winners of the series promoted to Di ...

season at Chindia Târgoviște. Iulian Chiriță has a total of 262 Divizia A matches in which he scored 57 goals and 15 games with 3 goals scored in the UEFA Cup. After he ended his playing career, Chiriță worked for a short while as a

at Cimentul Fieni, deciding afterwards that it was not a job he liked.

International career

Iulian Chiriță played three friendly matches at international level for

, making his debut on 20 April 1994 under coach

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), also known as "Tata Puiu", is a Romanian former footballer and former manager of the Romania national team, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following Februar ...

in a 3–0 victory against Bolivia. His following two games were a 2–0 victory against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and a 0–0 against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Chiriță was also part of

's squad at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

where the team reached the quarter-finals, however he did not play in any games from the campaign.1994 FIFA World Cup: Romania Squad
'' FIFA''. Retrieved 22 January 2010.

Conviction

Iulian Chiriță in the 1990s was in the entourage of Romanian thugs Fane Spoitoru and Gigi Boeru who after he scored a hat-trick for Rapid against Steaua București in a 4–1 victory from the

1994–95 Cupa României The 1994–95 Cupa României was the 57th edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by Petrolul Ploiești against Rapid București. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament. First round p ...

bought him a

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...

car as a gift. While he was living in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

where he owned a restaurant in

Castelldefels Castelldefels () is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and a suburban town of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 65,954 ( IDESCAT, 2017). Geography and location It i ...

, Chiriță was sent to jail in October 2015, receiving a sentence of two years and nine months for being part of a credit card theft mafia network. After executing one year and nine months, he was released from jail, claiming he was wrongfully convicted.

Honours

Rapid București * Cupa României runner-up: 1994–95

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chirita, Iulian 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Târgoviște Romanian footballers FCM Târgoviște players CSM Flacăra Moreni players FC Rapid București players FC Dinamo București players FC Argeș Pitești players FC Brașov (1936) players Romania international footballers Liga I players Liga II players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Association football midfielders Romanian football managers