Constantin Traian Ștefan (born 8 January 1951) is a

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 ...

n former footballer who played 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 ...

Club career

Constantin Ștefan was born on 3 January 1951 in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

. He started his career at the age of 14 at the junior squads of

Universitatea Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

with whom he won the national title in 1969, making 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 senior level on 23 September 1968 when coach

Constantin Teașcă Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian football player and manager. Nicknamed "Little Napoleon", Teașcă was known for his controversial training methods for which he would get in con ...

sent him on the field in the 88th minute in order to replace Cristian Ringheanu in a 3–0 win over

Argeș Pitești Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

. He spent six seasons in which he played 85 Divizia A matches for "U" Cluj, helping the club finish third in the 1971–72 season and appeared in both games from the 6–5 aggregate loss with

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

in the first round of the

1972–73 UEFA Cup The 1972–73 UEFA Cup was the second season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The 1973 UEFA Cup final was played over two legs at Anfield, Liverpool, England, and at Bökelbergstadion, Mönchengladb ...

. In 1974 he was transferred to

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 in his first season he won the Divizia A title under coach

Nicolae Dumitru Nicolae Dumitru (born 21 September 1949) is a Romanian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were ...

, making only two appearances as the team's first choice for the goalkeeper position was

Mircea Constantinescu Mircea Constantinescu (born 25 February 1945) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Politehnica Iași, Dinamo București and SC Bacău. Club career Mircea Constantinescu was born on 25 February 1945 in Crăiești, Rom ...

, but he won another title in the 1976–77 season, this time making 31 appearances under coach

Ion Nunweiller Ion Nunweiller (9 January 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a Romanian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender and manager. Club career File:Lică Nunweiller, Radu Nunweiller, Ion Nunweiller 1963.jpg, left, 270px, ...

. Ștefan made a total of 101 Divizia A appearances in his six seasons spent at '' The Red Dogs'' and played seven games in European competitions, including a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the

1975–76 European Cup The 1975–76 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by Bayern Munich in the final against Saint-Étienne at Hampden Park, Glasgow. This was the first time that Bayern Munich participated as la ...

. Constantin Ștefan ended his career by playing three 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 ...

, one at

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 ...

and the last two at Dinamo Victoria București, afterwards working as a mathematics teacher.

International career

Constantin Ștefan played one friendly game for

under coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács (; ; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. Having won two European Cup titles, he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of the game. Various football magazi ...

which ended with a 1–0 defeat in front of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Stadion der Weltjugend Stadion der Weltjugend was a multi-use stadium in the locality of Mitte in the eponymous borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. It was inaugurated on 20 May 1950 by the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht for the first "De ...

from

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 1974–75, 1976–77

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ștefan, Constantin 1951 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players Liga II players FC Universitatea Cluj players FC Dinamo București players FC Rapid București players Victoria București players Footballers from Brașov 20th-century Romanian sportsmen