Gheorghe Craioveanu

Gheorghe Craioveanu
Personal information
Date of birth	14 February 1968(age 56)
Place of birth	Hunedoara,Romania
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1981–1986	Olt Scornicești
Senior career*
Years	Team
1986–1988	Constructorul Slatina
1989–1990	Metalurgistul Slatina
1990	Drobeta-Turnu Severin
1991–1995	Universitatea Craiova
1995–1998	Real Sociedad
1998–2002	Villarreal
2002–2006	Getafe
Total
International career
1993–1999	Romania
Managerial career
2013–2023	Universitatea Craiova(image director)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gheorghe "Gică" Craioveanu(born 14 February 1968) is a Romanian retiredfootballerwho played as astriker.

He spent most of his professional career in Spain–11 years out of 18–withReal Sociedad,VillarrealandGetafe,respectively, amassing totals of 330 matches and 70 goals in bothmajor levelscombined.

ARomanian internationalin the 1990s, Craioveanu represented the nation at the1998 World Cup.

Club career

Craioveanu was born inHunedoara,Transylvania.After playing for modest clubs, he reachedLiga Iin January 1991 (one month shy of his 23rd birthday) after signing withFC Universitatea Craiova.On 3 March he made his competition debut in a 0–1 away loss againstFC Steaua București,but his team would eventuallywin the national championshipwith three goals from 13 appearances from the player; during his spell inCraiova,they never ranked lower than fourth and also won twodomestic cups,while he was also crowned the league's top scorer in 1994 and 1995.

In summer 1995, after a combined 49 goals in his last two seasons at Universitatea, Craioveanu joinedLa LigasideReal Sociedad,^[1]^[2]netting 11 times inhis first seasonto help theBasquesfinish in seventh position. Two years later he moved toVillarreal CFwhich were having their first top-tier experience,^[3]scoring a career-best – in Spain – 13 goals as they wereimmediately relegated.

Craioveanu was again a very important attacking unit – 38 games, eight goals – as Villarrealpromoted the year afterand, already a veteran, helped to the club's domestic consolidation. In 2002 the 34-year-old signed withGetafe CFof thesecond level,scoring 16 goals in 120 appearances over the course of four seasons and helping theMadridteamachieve a first ever top-flight promotion in his second year;he retired in June 2006, having appeared in 459 league matches during his professional career and scored a total of 131 goals.^[4]^[5]

International career

Craioveanu earned 25capsforRomania,his debut coming on 8 September 1993 in a 4–0 win in theFaroe Islandsfor the1994 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.His only major tournament was the1998 World CupinFrance,where his output consisted of 33 minutes in theround of 160–1 defeat toCroatia.^[6]

International stats

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1993	2	0
	1994	1	0
	1995	2	0
	1996	4	1
	1997	7	3
	1998	4	0
	1999	5	0
Total		25	4

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Craioveanu goal.^{[citation needed]}

List of international goals scored by Gheorghe Craioveanu
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 August 1996	Stadionul Steaua,Bucharest,Romania	Israel	2–0	2–0	Friendly
2	29 March 1997	Stadionul Steaua,Bucharest,Romania	Liechtenstein	7–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
3	6 September 1997	Sportpark Eschen-Mauren,Eschen,Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	2–0	8–1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
4	6 September 1997	Sportpark Eschen-Mauren,Eschen,Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	3–0	8–1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying

Post-retirement

After retiring, Craioveanu settled inGetafe(the city of his last club) in Madrid'smetropolitan area.During the local elections of 2007 he won a sports adviser seat on the local council, running as an independent with backing from thePeople's Party;^[7]^[8]^[9]this was the first suffrage during which Romanian citizens were eligible in otherEuropean Unioncounties, followingRomania's European integration.

On 16 June 2007, as a result of a local alliance between theSpanish Socialist Workers' PartyandIzquierda Unida,which took away PP's control over the Sports Adviser seat, Craioveanu convened with the PP not to hold a political office, and resigned from the council.^[7]^[9]He also worked as a co-presenter inLa Sexta's football programmeMinuto y Resultado,and aradio commentatoronOnda Cero;after his first marriage ended in divorce, he remarried with a Spanish woman named Gemma, and eventually fathered two children, one from each union.^[7]

Personal life

Craioveanu's son, Alejandro, played youth football forCastellón de la Plana-based CD Drac as well as Villarreal.^[10]^[11]

Honours

CS Universitatea Craiova

FC Universitatea Craiova

Cupa României:1992–93

Individual

Divizia Atop scorer:1993–94(22 goals),1994–95(27 goals)

References

^Gica Craioveanu: "Esta Real es más rápida que la nuestra, pero le falta Darko" (Gica Craioveanu: "This Real is better than ours, but they don't have Darko" );Mundo Deportivo,6 May 2013 (in Spanish)
^Gica Craioveanu: "La zurda de Javi de Pedro no era caviar, era beluga" (Gica Craioveanu: "Javi de Pedro's left was not caviar, it was beluga" );El Diario Vasco,20 December 2016 (in Spanish)
^El Villarreal en el Camp Nou: De la exhibición de Craioveanu a la chilena de Ronaldinho (Villarreal at the Camp Nou: From Craioveanu's show to Ronaldinho's bicycle);Marca,6 May 2017 (in Spanish)
^Craioveanu renueva un año con el Getafe (Craioveanu renews with Getafe for one year);Diario AS,26 May 2005 (in Spanish)
^Yo jugué en el Getafe FC: Gica Craioveanu (I played with Getafe FC: Gica Craioveanu);Vavel,10 May 2013 (in Spanish)
^De pena máxima (Maximum penalty);Mundo Deportivo, 1 July 1998 (in Spanish)
^^a ^b ^cGică Craioveanu renunţă la politică (Gică Craioveanu leaves politics)Archived3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine;Jurnalul Naţional,16 June 2007 (in Romanian)
^Craioveanu, consilier la Getafe (Craioveanu, counsellor of Getafe)Archived28 September 2007 at theWayback Machine;Adevărul,29 May 2007 (in Romanian)
^^a ^bGică Craioveanu a renunţat la postul de consilier municipal la Getafe (Gică Craioveanu resigns as Getafe city counsellor);Sport 365, 16 June 2007 (in Romanian)
^Gica, un padre ejemplar en el CD Drac Castellón (Gica, a role model of a father at CD Drac Castellón);El Periódico Mediterráneo, 19 November 2011 (in Spanish)
^EXCLUSIV Naționala are viitor! Craioveanu junior vrea sa fie "grande" (EXCLUSIVE National team have the future! Craioveanu junior wants to be "grande" );Digi Sport,8 August 2017 (in Romanian)

External links

Gheorghe Craioveanuat RomanianSoccer.ro(in Romanian)
Gheorghe Craioveanuat BDFutbol
Gheorghe Craioveanuat National-Football-Teams.com
Gheorghe Craioveanu–FIFAcompetition record (archived)
Gheorghe Craioveanuat EU-Football.info

[1] Gica Craioveanu: "Esta Real es más rápida que la nuestra, pero le falta Darko" (Gica Craioveanu: "This Real is better than ours, but they don't have Darko" );Mundo Deportivo,6 May 2013 (in Spanish)

[2] Gica Craioveanu: "La zurda de Javi de Pedro no era caviar, era beluga" (Gica Craioveanu: "Javi de Pedro's left was not caviar, it was beluga" );El Diario Vasco,20 December 2016 (in Spanish)

[3] El Villarreal en el Camp Nou: De la exhibición de Craioveanu a la chilena de Ronaldinho (Villarreal at the Camp Nou: From Craioveanu's show to Ronaldinho's bicycle);Marca,6 May 2017 (in Spanish)

[4] Craioveanu renueva un año con el Getafe (Craioveanu renews with Getafe for one year);Diario AS,26 May 2005 (in Spanish)

[5] Yo jugué en el Getafe FC: Gica Craioveanu (I played with Getafe FC: Gica Craioveanu);Vavel,10 May 2013 (in Spanish)

[6] De pena máxima (Maximum penalty);Mundo Deportivo, 1 July 1998 (in Spanish)

[Jurnalul-7] Gică Craioveanu renunţă la politică (Gică Craioveanu leaves politics)Archived3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine;Jurnalul Naţional,16 June 2007 (in Romanian)

[8] Craioveanu, consilier la Getafe (Craioveanu, counsellor of Getafe)Archived28 September 2007 at theWayback Machine;Adevărul,29 May 2007 (in Romanian)

[Sport-9] Gică Craioveanu a renunţat la postul de consilier municipal la Getafe (Gică Craioveanu resigns as Getafe city counsellor);Sport 365, 16 June 2007 (in Romanian)

[10] Gica, un padre ejemplar en el CD Drac Castellón (Gica, a role model of a father at CD Drac Castellón);El Periódico Mediterráneo, 19 November 2011 (in Spanish)

[11] EXCLUSIV Naționala are viitor! Craioveanu junior vrea sa fie "grande" (EXCLUSIVE National team have the future! Craioveanu junior wants to be "grande" );Digi Sport,8 August 2017 (in Romanian)

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