Valentin "Vali" Ștefan (born 25 June 1967) 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 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

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. ...

Club career

Vali Ștefan grew up at

Dunărea Galați Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See a ...

, for which he also played its first matches at senior level, but the

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 ...

debut was only on 24 May 1992 for Oțelul Galați, in a 0–1 defeat against

FCM Bacău Asociația Sportivă a Suporterilor FCM 1950 Bacău (also known as ASS FCM 1950 Bacău, FCM 1950 Bacău or FCM Bacău) was a Romanian association football, football football team, club based in Bacău, Bacău County, Moldavia. Founded in 1950 a ...

. He played 186 matches in the first league of Romania, most of them for Oțelul Galați, being also the captain of the club in the 1990s and a legend of the red, white and blue side. Captain of a generation, considered by many supporters to be the most beautiful in Oțelul's history, with players such as:

Cătălin Tofan Cătălin Tofan (born 23 December 1969) is a Romanian retired football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, fo ...

Costin Maleș Costin Maleș (born 25 July 1969) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in ...

Tudorel Pelin Tudorel Pelin (born 15 January 1969) is a retired Romanian football player. Honours ;Dacia Unirea Brăila *Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Roman ...

Viorel Tănase Viorel "Tase" Tănase (born 7 October 1970) is a Romanian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder, currently assistant coach at Liga II club Concordia Chiajna. Honours Player Oțelul Galați *Divizia B The Liga 2, most ...

Gigi Ion Gigi Ion (born 15 September 1967), also known as Ion Gigi, is a Romanian former professional footballer and manager. Ion played as a defender or midfielder and mostly for Oțelul Galați, but he also played for other teams like: Universitatea ...

Viorel Ion Viorel Ion (born 2 November 1967) is a Romanian football manager. Throughout his playing career, Viorel Ion played for several teams, including Oțelul Galați, Steaua București, VfL Bochum and Rapid București. He was player-manager of G ...

, Ștefan surprised many fans by the fact that, despite he was a defensive profile player, scored a lot of goals, many of them decisive for "the Steelworkers". As a matter of fact, he was the first player who fight for the

top scorer award, as the player of Oțelul. In the 1997–98 season, Vali Ştefan was the 4th in the table, with 14 goals scored. In the 2011 IFFHS top of the best defensive profile scorers in the history of football, Ștefan was on the 63rd place, over players like:

Fernando Hierro Fernando Ruiz Hierro (; born 23 March 1968) is a Spanish football executive and former player who played as a centre-back, sweeper or defensive midfielder. He won five La Liga and three Champions League trophies with Real Madrid in 14 years ...

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (; born 19 November 1965) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back and is the manager of Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad Club (J ...

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and is one of nine p ...

. As proof of attachment the fans even made him a song, which began with the phrase: ''Vali Ştefan-căpitan, ca Baresi la Milan!'' ("Vali Ştefan-captain, like Baresi at

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

!"). He also played for

CSM Reșița Asociația Club Sportiv Muncitoresc Reșița (), commonly known as CSM Reșița or simply as Reșița, is a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Reșița, Caraș-Severin County, which competes in the Liga II. The club was foun ...

and outside

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, for Omonia and

Anagennisi Deryneia Anagennisi Deryneia () is a Cypriot football team based in Deryneia, Famagusta. The club was founded in 1920 and they joined the Cyprus Football Association in 1972. The team played in the Cypriot First division in 2011 but was relegated at th ...

International career

Valentin Ștefan played in 1 match for

, an 8–1 victory against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and in 24 matches for

Romania B Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, 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 the east, and the Black Sea to ...

, where he also scored a goal.

After retirement

Valentin Ștefan retired in 2000 and for a period he was the vice-president of Oțelul Galați, then in 2006 he left

and moved in

where he works as baker and football coach. In 2014 on the occasion of the Oțelul's 50th anniversary he was included by the ''Dunărea Bătrăna'' publication in the top 50 legends of Oțelul, together with his 1990s teammates. In 2016 he became a "socios" member of Oțelul. On 16 July 2018 he was named as the general manager of Oțelul Galați.

Manager career

As a football coach, Vali Ștefan worked for Omonia U-17 and Olympiakos Nicosia U-17 squads. He won two U-17 national titles, one with each team and with Olympiakos U-17, also a second league title. From 2015 until 2018 he was the manager of Omonia U-21.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefan, Valentin 1967 births Living people Footballers from Galați Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players FCM Dunărea Galați players ASC Oțelul Galați players CSM Reșița players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Anagennisi Deryneia FC players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Romanian football managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus 20th-century Romanian sportsmen