Andrei Silviu Margaritescu (born 1 January 1980) is a former 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 played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Andrei Mărgăritescu, nicknamed ''China'' was born in

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

on 1 January 1980, starting to play junior level football at local club, Argeș where he worked with coach Cristian Gheorghe. He made his

Divizia A 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 ...

debut at age 19 on 2 November 1999, playing for

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

under coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

in a 2–1 victory against FC Brașov. After taking a red card in a game against Steaua București, Lucescu gave him to wear the captain armband in the following game in order to make him more responsible and less aggressive in his play. After only one season at Rapid, Mărgăritescu went to play four seasons in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

for Tractorul Brașov,

Olimpia Satu Mare Fotbal Club Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare, commonly known as Olimpia Satu Mare, Olimpia MCMXXI or simply as Olimpia, is a Romanian professional football club from Satu Mare, Satu Mare County, Romania, founded on 5 May 1921, re-founded in 2010 and 20 ...

and Unirea Focșani, after which he returned to

football as he was signed by

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 ...

where he was recommended by Lucescu and a coach from his youth career, Ionuț Chirilă. With '' The Red Dogs'' he managed to win the only three trophies of his career, the first two being under the guidance of coach

Ioan Andone Ioan Andone (; born 15 March 1960) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player. Club career Corvinul Hunedoara Ioan Andone, nicknamed "Fălcosul" was born on 15 March 1960 in Șpălnaca , and when he was 14 years old, he playe ...

, firstly the

2004–05 Cupa României The 2004–05 Cupa României was the 67th season of the annual Romanian football knockout tournament. The winners of the competition qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. First round proper , colspan=3 style="bac ...

when he played all the minutes of the 1–0 victory against Farul Constanța from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

and the second being the 2005 Supercupa României when he played the whole game in the 3–2 victory against

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Steaua București. Also Andone used him in seven games from the

2005–06 UEFA Cup The 2005–06 UEFA Cup, the 35th edition of the UEFA Cup, was won by Sevilla, beating Middlesbrough in the final. It was the first victory for Sevilla in a European competition, and the first appearance by Middlesbrough in a European final. The ...

campaign when the team eliminated Everton with a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage. Afterwards he helped Dinamo win the

2006–07 Liga I The 2006–07 Liga I was the eighty-ninth season of Liga I, the top-level association football, football league of Romania. Season began on 28 July 2006 and ended on 23 May 2007. Teams Eighteen teams played in the 2006–07 season. Four teams we ...

title, being used by coach

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

in 31 games in which he scored one goal. In the same season the team reached the sixteenths-finals of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica, Mărgăritescu playing 11 games in the campaign. In 2008, Mărgăritescu went to play alongside fellow Romanians

Florentin Petre Florentin Petre (born 15 January 1976) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently assistant coach at Liga I club Dinamo București. Club career Florentin Petre was born on 15 January 1976 in Bucharest, Romania, gr ...

and

Daniel Pancu Daniel Gabriel Pancu (; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player who played mainly as a forward or an attacking midfielder. Club career Pancu began his playing career at Politehnica Iași. He made his ...

in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

for Terek Grozny. He returned to Dinamo in 2009, where he would stay for one year and a half. In the 2011–12 season spent at

Mioveni Mioveni () is a town in Argeș County, Romania, approximately north-east of Pitești. , it had a population of 29,317. The town administers four villages: Clucereasa, Colibași, Făgetu, and Racovița. History Mioveni was first mentioned in a ...

, he played his last

matches, a competition in which he has a total of 156 matches played and four goals scored, he also has a total 29 games played without scoring in European competitions. Mărgăritescu spent the last years of his career playing in the Romanian lower leagues at

, Atletic Bradu, Urban Titu and SCM Pitești.

International career

Andrei Mărgăritescu played three matches for

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 ...

at the Euro 2008 qualifiers, under coach

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

. He made his debut when he came as a substitute and replaced

Laurențiu Roșu Laurențiu Dumitru Roșu (born 26 October 1975) is a Romanian football manager and former player. After four seasons at Steaua București, he spent nine years as a professional in Spain – eight in the two major divisions, where he amassed ...

in the 90th minute of a 2–0 away victory against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. His second game was a 2–0 away victory against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and his final game was the second leg against

, a 6–1 home victory. On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

, for his performance in the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G Standings and results for Group G of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying tournament. Romania secured qualification to the tournament proper on 17 October 2007 following a 2–0 win against Luxembourg, and a 1–1 draw between Albania and Bulgaria, beco ...

, where Romania managed to qualify to

UEFA Euro 2008 Group C Group C of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 9 to 17 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Zürich and Bern. The group was composed of 2006 FIFA World Cup 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, finalists Italy national footba ...

. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.

International stats

Controversy

On 27 June 2014, Mărgăritescu received a three-year suspended sentence for buying a car while knowing it was stolen.Fostul fotbalist Andrei Mărgăritescu, condamnat trei ani de închisoare cu suspendare
27 iunie 2014, Otilia Ciocan, ''Gândul'', accesat la 28 iunie 2014

Honours

Rapid București *

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 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Dinamo București *

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 ...

: 2006–07 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

: 2004–05 *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaritescu, Andrei 1980 births Footballers from Pitești Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers FC Olimpia Satu Mare players FC Rapid București players CSM Focșani (football) players FC Dinamo București players FC Akhmat Grozny players CS Mioveni players FC Argeș Pitești players Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Russian Premier League players Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Romanian sportsmen