Iulian Chiriță (born 2 February 1967) 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

central 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 ...

Club career

Chiriță was born on 2 February 1967 in

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...

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 ...

, starting to play youth level football at CSȘ Târgoviște. He started to play senior level football in 1985 at CS Târgoviște 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 ...

. 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, playing for Flacăra Moreni on 18 March 1988 under coach Ion Nunweiller in a 2–0 away loss to Universitatea Craiova, also during his period spent at the club he made his debut in European competitions, playing in both legs of the 4–1 loss on aggregate against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in the

1989–90 UEFA Cup The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was the 19th season of the UEFA Cup, the secondary club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at the Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo, Turi ...

. Then he went to play for one year and a half at FC Brașov. Afterwards he went to play 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 ...

where he had his most successful period of his career, playing 132 Divizia A matches in which he scored 40 goals, being for a while the team's captain, also scoring a goal in the 1995 Cupa României final which was lost to Petrolul Ploiești. He appeared in 12 games in which he scored three goals in 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 ...

for ''The Railwaymen'', most notably scoring a goal against

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

which helped the club eliminate the Belgians in the first round of the

1994–95 UEFA Cup The 1994–95 UEFA Cup was won by Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a po ...

. After his spell with Rapid ended, Chiriță returned for a short while at FC Brașov, afterwards going at Dinamo București and Argeș Pitești, ending his career at in the 1998–99 Divizia B season at Chindia Târgoviște. He has a total of 262 Divizia A matches in which he scored 57 goals and 15 games with three goals scored in the UEFA Cup. After he ended his playing career, Chiriță worked for a short while as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

at Cimentul Fieni, deciding afterwards that it was not a job he liked.

International career

Chiriță played three friendly matches at international level for

, making his debut on 20 April 1994 under coach

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), is a Romanian former footballer and former manager, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following February, after his predecessor resigned, he became a member ...

in a 3–0 victory against

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. His following two games were a 2–0 victory against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and a 0–0 against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. Chiriță was also part of

's squad at the 1994 World Cup where the team reached the quarter-finals, however he did not play in any games from the campaign.1994 FIFA World Cup: Romania Squad
''

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

''. Retrieved 22 January 2010.

International stats

Conviction

Chiriță in the 1990s was in the entourage of Romanian thugs Fane Spoitoru and Gigi Boeru who after he scored a hat-trick for

Rapid 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 ...

against Steaua București in a 4–1 victory from the 1994–95 Cupa României bought him a

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

car as a gift. While he was living in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

where he owned a restaurant in

Castelldefels Castelldefels () is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, and a suburban town of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Its population is 65,954 ( IDESCAT, 2017). Geography and location ...

, Chiriță was sent to jail in October 2015, receiving a sentence of two years and nine months for being part of a credit card theft mafia network. After executing one year and nine months, he was released from jail, claiming he was wrongfully convicted.

Honours

Rapid București *

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 ...

runner-up: 1994–95

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chirita, Iulian 1967 births Living people Footballers from Târgoviște Romanian men's footballers FCM Târgoviște players CSM Flacăra Moreni players FC Rapid București players FC Dinamo București players FC Argeș Pitești players FC Brașov (1936) players Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Romanian sportsmen