Ștefan Târnovanu (born 9 May 2000) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

and the Romania national team.

Club career

Early career

Târnovanu made his senior debut on 31 March 2018, aged 17, starting for Știința Miroslava in a 0–1 loss to

Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the ...

while on loan in the second league. On 30 November that year, he appeared for the first time in the

for his boyhood club Politehnica Iași in a 1–1 home draw to Sepsi OSK. Târnovanu was then again sent out on loan in the Liga II, moving to

Sportul Snagov Club Sportiv Sportul Snagov, commonly known as Sportul Snagov or simply as Snagov, was a Romanian professional football club from Snagov, Ilfov County, founded in 2007 as Damila Măciuca and dissolved in 2020. Last time the club played in the L ...

for the second half of the 2018–19 season.

FCSB

On 29 September 2019, it was announced that Târnovanu agreed a deal in advance to join

the following summer. Politehnica Iași received €200,000 and also retained 15% interest on the capital gain of a possible future transfer. Târnovanu made his debut for the ''Roș-albaștrii'' on 19 May 2021, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–1 league loss to Universitatea Craiova. On 20 December, he kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a draw against Sepsi OSK, being named one of the best players of the game by the ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' daily. Following some unconvincing performances of regular starter Andrei Vlad, Târnovanu became the first-choice goalkeeper at the club in March 2022. In the 2023–24 season, Târnovanu aided FCSB in winning the national championship by making 39 appearances and having the most clean sheets (15).

International career

In June 2021, Târnovanu was selected by manager

Mirel Rădoi Mirel Matei Rădoi (born 22 March 1981) is a Romanian professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club CS Universitatea Craiova, Universitatea Craiov ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

's squad for the postponed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, but did not feature in any match. Târnovanu was called up to the senior team for the first time by coach

Edward Iordănescu Edward "Edi" Iordănescu (; born 16 June 1978), sometimes known as Iordănescu Jr., is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Legia ...

on 24 May 2022, for the four opening

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

games with

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

. He made his debut on 20 November that year, in a 5–0 away friendly win against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. On 7 June 2024, Târnovanu was named in Romania's squad for the

Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by U ...

, but did not play in any game.

Personal life

In September 2018, media outlets reported that Târnovanu was temporarily removed from the Romania national under-19 team after shopping online with his roommate's

bank card A bank card is typically a plastic card issued by a bank to its clients that performs one or more of a number of services that relate to giving the client access to a bank account. Physically, a bank card will usually have the client's name, th ...

. The goalkeeper stated that "things were misunderstood" and he and Andrei Cristea-David are friends.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

FCSB *

: 2023–24, 2024–25 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), 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 Supe ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *Liga I Team of the Season: 2023–24, 2024–25 *Liga I most clean sheets: 2023–24, 2024–25

References

External links

*
FCSB official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Târnovanu, Ștefan 2000 births Living people Footballers from Iași Romanian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players Liga II players CS Știința Miroslava players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players CS Sportul Snagov players FCSB players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century Romanian sportsmen