Cristian Emanuel Bălgrădean (; born 21 March 1988) 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 III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

club Unirea Alba Iulia. Since making his debut in the first division in 2010, Bălgrădean has amassed over 200 matches in the competition for

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 ...

, Universitatea Craiova,

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 CFR Cluj, among others. With the former team, he won the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

in 2012, and with the latter the Liga I and the Supercupa României in 2021. Bălgrădean registered his full debut for the Romania national team in November 2011, in a 3–1 friendly victory over

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Club career

Bălgrădean started his career as a youngster at

Helmut Duckadam Helmut Duckadam (, sometimes spelled Helmuth; 1 April 1959 – 2 December 2024) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Duckadam was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his performance in the 1986 European Cup final, ...

football school in Arad. After the school was disbanded, he joined the junior groups of Atletico Arad. In 2005, he signed his first professional contract with

Minerul Lupeni Clubul Sportiv Viitorul Minerul Lupeni, commonly referred to as Minerul Lupeni, is a Romanian football club based in Lupeni, Hunedoara County, which competes in Liga III , the third tier of the Romanian football league system. Established in 192 ...

. His evolution was impressive, and he was bought by FC Brașov. In 2008, he was transferred permanently by Liberty Salonta. From the Bihor team, Bălgrădean was called to the Romania U-21 team. In 2009, he returns home to Arad, being bought by Gloria Arad, and then loaned to

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

. In June 2010 he signed a contract for five seasons with

. He failed to gain a position in the first squad and was loaned for a season at

Unirea Urziceni Fotbal Club Unirea Urziceni, commonly known as Unirea Urziceni (), was a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County. Unirea became Divizia A Final Tables, national champions ...

. In the Winter break, Bălgrădean was called back to Dinamo by

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 ...

who decided to give him a chance in the first 11 after an injury of

Emilian Dolha Emilian Ioan Dolha (born 3 November 1979) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently goalkeeping coach at Liga II club Concordia Chiajna. Dolha started his career with Gloria Bistrița, before represen ...

. He kept his position after Andone was replaced with Liviu Ciobotariu in July 2011. Following the arrival of Dario Bonetti as head-coach, Bălgrădean initially lost his place in the first team when the Italian manager chose

Kristijan Naumovski Kristijan Naumovski (; born 17 September 1988) is a Macedonian international footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bruneian club DPMM FC of the Malaysia Super League. Club career Naumovski signed a two-year contract with Levski Sofia in th ...

as first goalkeeper. After a while, the two players were used alternately because they both became eligible for their national teams and for a possible future transfer. In July 2014, Bălgrădean was released by Dinamo. On 26 August, he signed a contract with the newly promoted in

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 ...

, Universitatea Craiova. On 19 February 2018, he agreed to a two-and-a-half-year deal with

. On 1 July 2020, he left

to join

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

International career

Bălgrădean became a Romania international player on 15 November 2011, when he played the full 90 minutes in a 3–1 friendly win against

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 2011–12 *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Concordia Chiajna *

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

runner-up: 2015–16 CFR Cluj *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balgradean, Cristian 1988 births Living people Footballers from Timiș County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players ACS Minerul Lupeni players FC Brașov (1936) players AFC Gloria Arad players CF Liberty Oradea players FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players FC Unirea Urziceni players CS Universitatea Craiova players CS Concordia Chiajna players FCSB players CFR Cluj players AFC Câmpulung Muscel players CSM Unirea Alba Iulia players Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's international footballers 21st-century Romanian sportsmen