Costin Lazăr (born 24 April 1981) is a Romanian 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 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. ...

for teams such as Sportul Studențesc,

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 ...

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football club based in Voluntari, Ilfov County, that competes in the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian league system. Founded in 2 ...

, among others. Lazăr was capped with

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 senior level, making 32 appearances and scoring twice.

Club career

Sportul Studenţesc

Until 2006, Lazăr enjoyed a successful spell at Sportul Studenţesc.

Rapid București

Lazăr joined

in the summer of 2006. In March 2009, he was involved in an incident in which he was judged to have been fouled in the box by Oţelul's Alexandru Bourceanu. Lazăr, adamant that it was a fair tackle, refused to take the penalty and eventually persuaded the referee to award a drop ball, which his teammate Ovidiu Herea then kicked out for a goal kick.

PAOK

On 21 July 2011, Lazăr signed a three-year contract with

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

after he was chosen by the club coach

László Bölöni Ladislau "Loți" Iosif Bölöni (; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. After starting out at ASA Târgu Mureș (1962), ASA Târgu Mureș, Böl� ...

. He quickly became a key player for the club even after 5 matches. On 25 March, in a game against

Kerkyra Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is admin ...

, Lazăr scored two goals, to help his team to a 4–0 victory. On 6 January 2013 Costin Lazar scored a wonderful goal for

, winning 4–1 away to Panthrakikos, in a match of the Greece Super League. This goal voted as the best of the week.

Panetolikos

On 19 January 2015, Lazăr signed a six-month contract with

Panetolikos F.C. Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrinio ...

Iraklis

On 25 June 2015, Lazar signed an annual contract with

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club Iraklis.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sportul Studenţesc * Romanian Second League: 2000–01, 2003–04 Rapid București *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: 2006–07 * Romanian Supercup:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

PAOK *

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

Runner-up:

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 ...

, 2013–14 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

Runner-up: 2013–14 Voluntari *

: 2016–17 * Romanian Supercup:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

* * * * 1981 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Footballers from Bucharest Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players Super League Greece players FC Sportul Studențesc București players FC Rapid București players FC Voluntari players PAOK FC players Panetolikos F.C. players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece AFC Câmpulung Muscel managers 21st-century Romanian sportsmen {{Romania-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub