László Sepsi

László Sepsi (; born 7 June 1987) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a left back.

Club career

Gaz Metan MediaÈ™ / Rennes

Sepsi was born on 7 June 1987 in Luduș, Romania, being of Hungarian descent, starting to play junior level football at local club, Mureșul, going afterwards at ȘS Târgu-Mureș, Olimpia Satu Mare and Sporting Pitești. He made his professional debut during the 2004–05 Divizia B season under the guidance of coach Ioan Sabău at Gaz Metan Mediaș, making 24 appearances and scoring once, as the team fought for promotion until the last round but finished on the second place on equal points with Jiul Petroșani who promoted on a better goal average.

In 2005 he moved abroad, signing for Rennes, being brought to the French club by compatriot László Bölöni, the team's manager. Sepsi did not feature in any Ligue 1 matches in the 2005–06 season, only being fielded in a couple of games for the Coupe de France. He also made his debut in an European competition, playing in a 5–1 away loss to PAOK Thessaloniki from the 2005–06 UEFA Cup group stage.

Gloria Bistrița

Afterwards he returned to Romania, joining Gloria Bistrița who paid €200.000 for his transfer. There he reunited with coach Sabău who gave him his Divizia A debut on 28 July 2006 in a 1–0 away loss to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. In his first season with Gloria, he helped the team finish on the sixth position. The club reached the 2007 Intertoto Cup final where they earned a 2–1 home victory against Atlético Madrid, however the second leg was lost with 1–0, thus losing the final on the away goals rule.

Benfica / Racing Santander

On 12 January 2008, Sepsi signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with Portuguese club, Benfica for an undisclosed fee (newspapers reported a sum between €1.7 and 2.5 million). He made his Primeira Liga debut on 17 February when coach José Antonio Camacho sent him on the field to replace Freddy Adu in the final minutes of a game with Naval, managing to provide an assist for a goal scored by Nuno Assis that secured a 2–0 win. He played three matches in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup campaign, helping ''The Eagles'' get past 1. FC Nürnberg and reach the round of 16 where he played in both legs of the 3–1 aggregate loss to Getafe.

In August 2008, Benfica loaned him to Spanish club Racing Santander in a season-long move. Sepsi made his La Liga debut on 31 August when coach Juan Ramón López Muñiz sent him on the field in the 86th minute to replace Óscar Serrano in a 1–1 home match against Sevilla. He played 19 games – 14 starts – as the Cantabrians finished in 12th position, thus retaining their division status. He also played four games in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, helping Racing eliminate Honka in the first round and reach the group stage. Deemed surplus to requirements by new Benfica boss Jorge Jesus, Sepsi was again loaned to Racing Santander for the 2009–10 season. He appeared very rarely in his second spell, however.

Politehnica Timișoara

On 4 January 2010, Sepsi joined Politehnica Timișoara for a fee believed to be between €1.2 and 1.5 million on a five-year deal. The club's president, Marian Iancu, revealed that the whole deal was worth €2.3 million, which included both the transfer fee value and the player's wages. Sepsi reunited once again with coach Sabău who on 20 January 2010 gave him his debut in a 0–0 away draw against his former team, Gloria Bistrița. He helped ''The White-Purples'' get past the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 Europa League against MyPa, who were leading 3–0 at half time, making an amazing comeback in the second half after Marián Čišovský equalized in the 90+2 minute and as in the first leg Politehnica won with 2–1, they reached the competition's play-offs where they were eliminated by Manchester City. The team finished on the second position in 2010–11 championship. Despite this performance, Politehnica was relegated by the Romanian Football Federation to the second league for not fulfilling the license conditions to play in European competitions or first league. After spending the first half of the 2011–12 season in the second league, in January 2012, Sepsi was declared a free agent by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Târgu Mureș / CFR Cluj

He returned to first league football, playing in the second half of the 2011–12 season at Târgu Mureș, working again with Sabău, however the spell was unsuccessful as they relegated.

In June 2012, after his contract expired, Sepsi signed with CFR Cluj for three seasons. He played four games in the 2012–13 Champions League group stage as CFR earned 10 points in a group composed of Manchester United, Galatasaray and Braga which helped them finish third, qualifying to the sixteenths-finals of the Europa League where they were defeated by Inter Milan.

In February 2014, Sepsi was loaned by CFR back to Târgu Mureș, helping them earn promotion from the second league to the first. Afterwards his transfer at Târgu Mureș became permanent. In the 2014–15 season, he helped Târgu Mureș fight for the title until the last round when they were defeated 2–1 by Oțelul Galați, thus finishing on the second place, on the first being Steaua București.

1. FC Nürnberg

In the summer of 2015, after extensive negotiations, Sepsi signed with 1. FC Nürnberg from Germany. He played 26 2. Bundesliga matches in his first season, also starting in both legs of the promotion/relegation play-offs that were lost 2–1 on aggregate to Eintracht Frankfurt.

In the 2016–17 campaign, Sepsi was sidelined for several weeks with an ankle injury. In June 2018, the club decided not to renew his expiring contract.

Universitatea Cluj

On 28 August 2018, aged 31, Sepsi returned to his homeland and joined second league side, Universitatea Cluj. The team was close to earn a promotion to the first league as it finished third in the 2018–19 season, then played a promotion play-off with FC Hermannstadt which was lost with 3–0 on aggregate.

International career

Sepsi played four games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 26 March 2008 when coach Victor Pițurcă sent him on the field in the 87th minute to replace Răzvan Raț in a friendly that ended with a 3–0 victory against Russia, played on the Ghencea stadium from Bucharest. His following two games were also friendlies, a 2–0 loss to Israel and a 3–0 win over Honduras. Sepsi's last game for the national team was a 0–0 draw against Northern Ireland at the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Honours

Politehnica Timișoara
*Liga I runner-up: 2010–11
*Liga II: 2011–12
Târgu Mureș
*Liga I runner-up: 2014–15

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sepsi, Laszlo
1987 births
Living people
People from LuduÈ™
Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent
Romanian men's footballers
Men's association football defenders
Liga I players
Liga II players
CS Gaz Metan MediaÈ™ players
ACF Gloria Bistrița players
FC Politehnica Timișoara players
ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș players
CFR Cluj players
FC Universitatea Cluj players
Stade Rennais FC players
Primeira Liga players
S.L. Benfica footballers
La Liga players
Racing de Santander players
2. Bundesliga players
1. FC Nürnberg players
Romania men's under-21 international footballers
Romania men's international footballers
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Footballers from MureÈ™ County
21st-century Romanian sportsmen