Artur Ioniță (; born 17 August 1990) is a Moldovan 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

and the Moldova national team.

Club career

Artur Ioniță made his professional debut at the Moldovan

Divizia Națională The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldova became independent ...

club

Zimbru Chișinău Zimbru is the Romanian word for the European bison. Zimbru may also refer to: * FC Zimbru Chișinău, a football club from Moldova * FC Zimbru-2 Chișinău, the second team of the club mentioned above * Zimbru Stadium, the official stadium of the ...

in 2007. In the 2008–09 season he played for

FC Iskra-Stal Rîbniţa FC Iskra-Stal Rîbnița was a Moldovan football club based in Rîbnița, Moldova (Transnistria). History FC Iskra-Stal (Rybnitsa) was founded in 2005 by merging an amateur team ''Stal'' that was owned by the metallurgical plant in Rîbnița, wit ...

. From 2009 to 2014 he played for the Swiss team

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss professional football club based in Aarau. Founded in 1902, the club competes in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from the Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was form ...

, with which he transferred from the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

to the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. Ioniță was then transferred to Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

in July 2014 on a free transfer. He made his début against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

, as a substitute for Mounir Obbadi. At Hellas Verona, Ioniță became teammates with one of his idols

Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Álvarez (; born 13 February 1979) is a Mexican football coach and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the assistant coach of the Mexico national team. Nicknamed '' El Káiser'', he is regarded as the bes ...

. Ioniță scored his first goal for Hellas during his second appearance for the club, as a substitute in the second half of the match and securing a goal against

Torino F.C. Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

on the 65th minute giving his team a 1–0 win. This made him the first Moldovan footballer to score a goal in Serie A. He scored his second goal for Hellas Verona in a game against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of the game; also providing an assist for Panagiotis Tachtsidis on the 52nd minute. After an impressive 2015–16 season in Serie A in which he scored 4 goals and provided 2 assists in 31 matches, Ioniță was targeted by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. In July 2016, Ioniță transferred to newly promoted Serie A club,

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. On 20 August 2020, Ioniță signed a contract with

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

ahead of their return to Serie A. On 11 August 2022, Ioniță moved to

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

on a two-year contract. On 31 January 2023, he was loaned to

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. On 1 September 2023, Ioniță joined

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

on loan with an option to buy. After being a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

for two months, he signed a new contract with Lecco on 30 September 2024. On 30 January 2025, Ioniță signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

International career

Ioniță made his debut appearance for Moldova in 2009, in the

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Moldova lost the match 0–2. He scored his first international goal during a 5–2 win in

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

against

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 ...

and then scored again in a 1–1 draw at home to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Moldova's goal tally first.''

Honours

Aarau *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual * Moldovan Footballer of the Year: 2014, 2019

References

External links

Artur Ioniţă player info at Sport1.de

Swiss Super League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ionita, Artur 1990 births Living people Footballers from Chișinău Moldovan men's footballers 21st-century Moldovan sportsmen Men's association football midfielders FC Zimbru Chișinău players FC Aarau players FC Iskra-Stal players Hellas Verona FC players Cagliari Calcio players Benevento Calcio players Pisa SC players Modena FC 2018 players Calcio Lecco 1912 players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players Moldovan Super Liga players Swiss Super League players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Moldova men's international footballers Moldovan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Italy