Andrei Cristea

Andrei Cristea (Romanian pronunciation: [anˈdrej ˈkriste̯a]; born 15 May 1984) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward.[1]

Not to be confused with Andrei Cristea-David.

Andrei Cristea
Personal information
Full name Andrei Cristea
Date of birth (1984-05-15) 15 May 1984
Place of birth Bacău, Romania
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
0000–2001 FCM Bacău
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 FCM Bacău 35 (7)
2004–2006 Steaua București 52 (10)
2006–2008 Politehnica Timișoara 35 (6)
2008 → Politehnica Iași (loan) 13 (6)
2008–2010 Dinamo București 50 (23)
2009 → Politehnica Iași (loan) 15 (7)
2011–2012 Karlsruher SC 11 (6)
2012–2013 Dinamo București 19 (1)
2013–2014 Brașov 29 (8)
2014 Gabala 9 (0)
2015 Salernitana 9 (3)
2015–2016 Martina Franca 16 (3)
2016–2018 Politehnica Iași 103 (33)
2019 Universitatea Craiova 10 (1)
2019–2021 Politehnica Iași 49 (14)
2021–2022 Mioveni 13 (3)
Total 466 (130)
International career‡
2003–2006 Romania U21 14 (0)
2003–2010 Romania 10 (0)
Managerial career
2021 Politehnica Iași (player-manager)
2022–2023 ACSFC Dinamo București
2023 Înainte Modelu
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:28, 19 February 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21 May 2016

Although deployed as a forward, Cristea was better known for his pace and his range of passing instead of his goalscoring abilities, and represented the Romania national team from 2003 to 2010.[2]

Club career

Cristea started football in his home town and made his debut in the Divizia A in 2001, for local club FCM Bacău.[3]

In the summer of 2004, Cristea transferred to Steaua București for a fee of $1 million.[4] However, he did not manage to earn a first-team place there, despite scoring two goals that eliminated Valencia CF in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup season. He was put on the transfer list in the summer of 2006.[5]

Cristea moved to fellow Liga I club Politehnica Timişoara, in a swap which saw Gigel Coman move to Steaua București.[6] After failing to impress at Politehnica Timişoara, he was loaned to Politehnica Iaşi for the second part of the 2007–08 season, where he had a great part in saving the team from relegation, with man of the match performances against CFR Cluj and his former team, Steaua București.[7]

Dinamo București

On 9 May 2008, Cristea signed a five-year contract with Dinamo, just six days before turning 24. He called the transfer "a birthday present" and joined Dinamo after the summer holiday. He started scoring for the red and white team in the friendly games they played in pre-season. Cristea played only the first half on the season for Dinamo, netting two goals in eight matches and entering Dinamo's history by scoring the goal that brought the 1.000th victory of the team in all-time domestic championship, against Farul Constanta.[8]

Cristea again went on loan to Politehnica Iași, in the winter transfer window, where he was very well received and scored seven times in 15 games, goals which proved crucial in helping the team continue in the first division. Upon his return, he became a very important player, scoring goals that brought significant victories in Liga I and Europa League. He was the top scorer of the Romanian league in the 2009–10 season with 16 goals.[9]

Karlsruhe

On 16 January 2011, Karlsruhe signed Cristea in the attempt of avoiding the relegation.[10][11] On 13 February, Cristea scored two goals against the leader of Second Bundesliga, Hertha BSC. These were his first goals on this new club.[12] On 27 February, he scored the last goal of the game in the 1–4 loss against FC Ingolstadt 04, after coming from bench.[12] On 11 March, Cristea scored the first goal of the match in Karlsruhe-Duisburg, 3–1 final score.[12] On 15 May, in the last round of the Second Bundesliga, the Romanian striker saved his club from relegation, scoring a brace in the 3–2 win against Union Berlin.[12] The next season Karlsruhe were relegated after a play-off and Cristea became a free agent.

Initially, Cristea wanted to stay in Germany, where he had offers from Ingolstadt and Energie Cottbus,[13] but Dinamo approached him and he accepted to return to Bucharest where he had the chance to again work under Dario Bonetti.[14] On 22 June 2014, Cristea signed a one-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Gabala FK.[15] In December of the same year Cristea had his contract with Gabala terminated.[16] Following his release he signed with Lega Pro side U.S. Salernitana 1919 until the end of the season.[17]

Politehnica Iași

After playing for Salernitana and Martina Franca in the Italian Serie C, in February 2016, Cristea returned to Romania to join his former team, Liga I club Politehnica Iași. He subsequently signed a one and a half-year contract with the Moldavian squad.[18]

He scored 7 goals in 17 games in the second half of the 2015–16 Liga I and helped Politehnica Iași qualify for the 2016–17 Europa League qualifying phase for the first time in their history.[19] He then opened the scoring in a 2–2 draw against Hajduk Split in their first European game.[20] On 14 December 2018, in a game against Concordia Chiajna, Cristea scored a brace and reached 100 goals scored in the Romanian Liga I.[21]

On 27 September 2020, Cristea scored a hat-trick in a 5–2 league win over FCSB.[22]

International career

Cristea made his debut for the Romania national team on 11 October 2003, in a 1–1 draw against Japan.[23] Over the years he made ten appearances for the national team, until his retirement in 2010.[2]

Career statistics

Club
As of 12 April 2021[24][25][9]
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FCM Bacău 2001–02 Divizia A 1000—10
2002–03 Divizia A 11110—121
2003–04 Divizia A 23600—236
Total 35710—367
Steaua București 2004–05 Divizia A 2871082379
2005–06 Divizia A 24310120373
Total 5210202027412
Politehnica Timișoara 2006–07 Liga I 28642—328
2007–08 Liga I 7020—90
Total 35662—418
Politehnica Iași (loan) 2007–08 Liga I 13600—136
2008–09 Liga I 15700—157
Dinamo București 2008–09 Liga I 822210114
2009–10 Liga I 291623713820
2010–11 Liga I 1143142187
Total 4822761236731
Karlsruher SC 2010–11 2. Bundesliga 11600—116
Dinamo București 2012–13 Liga I 19100—191
Brașov 2013–14 Liga I 29820—318
Gabala 2014–15 Azerbaijan Premier League 900020110
Salernitana 2014–15 Lega Pro 9300—93
Martina Franca 2015–16 Lega Pro 16300—163
Politehnica Iași 2015–16 Liga I 17700—177
2016–17 Liga I 351131214013
2017–18 Liga I 32922—3411
2018–19 Liga I 19610—206
Total 10333632111137
Universitatea Craiova 2018–19 Liga I 10100—101
Politehnica Iași 2019–20 Liga I 32632—358
2020–21 Liga I 16700—167
Total 481332—5115
Career total 4521262713366515145

International
As of 10 January 2019[9][26]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania
200330
200410
200520
200600
200700
200800
200910
201030
Total100

Honours

[9]

Club

Steaua București

Dinamo București

US Salernitana

Individual

References
  1. "Andrei Cristea nu renunță! A semnat cu noua echipă + alte două transferuri tari". gsp.ro (in Romanian). 30 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  2. "Andrei Cristea: "Nu mă autopropun pentru Euro, nu pun presiune inutilă"". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 12 March 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  3. "Dorința lui Stoican a fost îndeplinită" [Stoican's wish gets fulfilled]. Digi Sport (in Romanian). 17 June 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  4. "Andrei Cristea, despre performanţa Iaşiului" [Andrei Cristea about Iasi's performance]. ProSport (in Romanian). 28 May 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  5. "Andrei Cristea şi-a prelungit contractul cu CSM Poli Iaşi până în 2019". ProSport (in Romanian). 17 June 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  6. "El este jucatorul care i-a COSTAT 40 de milioane de euro: "Asa se intampla in fotbal!" Cea mai DURA lovitura primita de Becali la Steaua" [He is the player that costed them 40 million euros: "This what happens in football!" The toughest strike Becali received at Steaua]. Sport.ro (in Romanian). 21 May 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  7. "Andrei Cristea: "Am ales să vin la Iaşi cu sufletul"". ProSport (in Romanian). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  8. "Dinamo, victoria numarul 1000" [Dinamo, victory number 1000]. Pro X (in Romanian). 5 October 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. Andrei Cristea at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  10. "Cristea verstärkt den KSC" [Cristea strengthens KSC]. DFL (in German). 16 January 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  11. "Cristea, Andrei". kicker.de (in German). Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  12. "Andrei Cristea". Soccerway. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  13. Barbu, Radu (8 June 2012). "Andrei Cristea vrea sa ramana in Germania". ofsaid.ro (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  14. Apostol, Eduard (10 June 2012). "Primul transfer important la Dinamo – Cristea, pînă în 2015". gsp.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  15. ""Qəbələ"də iki yeni futbolçu". Gabala FK (in Azerbaijani). 22 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  16. Габала отказалась от 3 протеже Мунтяну (in Russian). 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  17. "Andrei Cristea è un giocatore della Salernitana". Salernitana (in Italian). 9 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  18. "Andrei Cristea a semnat cu CSMS Iași!". Digi Sport (in Romanian). 2 February 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  19. "CSMS Iași, ultima echipă care merge în Europa League". Digi Sport (in Romanian). 30 May 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  20. "Andrei Cristea, în culmea dezamăgirii după ce CSMS Iaşi a fost egalată în ultimele secunde". ProSport (in Romanian). 14 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  21. "CSMS Iași, ultima echipă care merge în Europa League". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 14 December 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  22. "CSMS Iasi 5:2 FCSB". ESPN. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  23. "Andrei CRISTEA profile". romaniansoccer.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  24. Andrei Cristea at Soccerway. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  25. Andrei Cristea at WorldFootball.net
  26. "Andrei Cristea". European Football. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
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