Ciprian Marica

Ciprian Marica

Marica with Schalke in 2011.
Personal information
Full nameCiprian Andrei Marica
Date of birth2 October 1985
Place of birthBucharest, Romania
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Konyaspor
Number19
Youth career
1996–2001Dinamo București
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2001–2004Dinamo București23(4)
2004–2007Shakhtar Donetsk73(16)
2007–2011VfB Stuttgart93(19)
2011–2013Schalke 0434(5)
2013–2014Getafe27(6)
2014–Konyaspor3(1)
National team‡
2003–2006Romania U2110(4)
2003–[2]Romania70(25)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 October 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 October 2014

Ciprian Andrei Marica (Romanian pronunciation: [t͡ʃipriˈan ˈmarika]; born 2 October 1985) is a Romanian footballer. He mostly plays as second striker or a winger, but he is also able to play as a centre forward (mostly on a national level). He is under contract with Süper Lig side Konyaspor.

Club career

Dinamo București

Marica's first professional club team was Dinamo București, from the city in which he was born. He started to gain attention even though he only played 23 games (scoring four goals) in three years with the club.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Ciprian transferred to the Ukrainian top club and played his so far best seasons with them. He gained international experience, getting to play in the UEFA Cup European competition.

VfB Stuttgart

Marica warming up for VfB Stuttgart in 2010.

On 23 July 2007, he transferred to German club VfB Stuttgart, after his former club, Shakhtar Donetsk, rejected another offer, from English team Derby County amongst interest from Manchester City.[3] Marica signed a 5-year contract. Stuttgart sporting director Horst Heldt said: "Ciprian is a very flexible forward, and a permanent thorn in the side of any opposition defence, who fits outstandingly into our team. He wanted to join us desperately."[4]

Marica made his debut for VfB in the Bundesliga on 12 August 2007, in a home game against Schalke 04 (2–2). In his first season he got plenty of appearances (28), scoring only two goals in those (plus one goal in the UEFA Champions League, which led Stuttgart to their win against the Rangers F.C.).

After this first failed season then-coach Armin Veh mistrusted Marica, giving him only few appearances. Things seemed to get better after the sacking of Veh. New coach Markus Babbel entrusted him to play instead of Cacau, but Marica again failed to impress.

Only after Christian Gross replaced Babbel as VfB coach, Marica got a new chance, mainly profiting by long-time injury of Cacau. This time Marica didn't disappoint his coach, scoring, inter alia, four goals in three consecutive matches. (Two goals in a 2–0 victory for VfB on 20 March 2010 match in Bundesliga against Hannover 96, the winning goal on 27 March 2010 away at Bayern Munich and the equalizing goal in a 2–1 victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 3 April 2010.)

As of season 2010–11 he started again to be only the third choice behind Cacau and Pavel Pogrebnyak.

On 12 July 2011, Marica was released from his contract at Stuttgart.[5]

Schalke 04

On 28 July 2011, Marica signed a two-year contract with German club Schalke 04,[6] worth €5m.[7] He chose to remain in Germany, despite having offers from Premier League club Blackburn Rovers, and other two French clubs such as Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain.[8][9]

In a match against Maccabi Haifa, on 14 December, Marica scored one goal,[10] to help his team to a 3–0 win.[11] On 29 January 2012, Marica scored a double against 1. FC Köln[12] Although Lukas Podolski opened the score in the first half, Marica made it 2–1 for FC Schalke 04, with the game eventually ending in a 4–1 win for his team.[13] Towards the end of his contract with the team he received interest from teams such as Shakhtar, Lazio and Inter.[14]

Getafe

On 27 September 2013, Marica signed a contract with Spanish La Liga side Getafe.[15] He made his Getafe debut on 6 October as a substitute in the 3–1 win against Betis Sevilla. On 31 October, Marica scored his first league goal in a 2–0 away win against Villarreal.[16] In May 2014, he scored twice in a 2–1 win over Rayo Vallecano, keeping Getafe out of the relegation zone.[17]

Konyaspor

In the summer of 2014, Marica signed a two-year contract with Turkish side Konyaspor.[18]

International career

Marica lining up for Romania in 2014

Marica scored 25 goals in 72 caps. He made his debut on 16 November 2003, in a friendly game with Italy played in Ancona and won by Squadra Azzurra 1–0. Marica was introduces in the 81st minute, replacing Daniel Pancu. His first goal for the national team came on 17 November 2004, in a match against Armenia.

On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu for the results on Qualifying to EURO 2008 and qualification to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C with Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

He scored his first double for Romania in a 2012 European championship qualifying match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 3 June 2011.

He scored his first ever Hat-trick for Romania in a Friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago, on 4 June 2013.

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. As of match played 7 September 2014.[19]
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 17 November 2004 Hanrapetakan Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia  Armenia 1–0 1–1 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification
2 2 September 2006 Stadionul Farul, Constanța, Romania  Bulgaria 2–0 2–2 UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
3 7 October 2006 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania  Belarus 2–0 3–1 UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
4 15 November 2006 Estadio Ramón de Carranza, Cadiz, Spain  Spain 1–0 1–0 Friendly
5 28 March 2007 Ceahlăul Stadium, Piatra Neamț, Romania  Luxembourg 3–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
6 17 October 2007 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 2–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
7 21 November 2007 Național Stadium, Bucharest, Romania  Albania 5–1 6–1 UEFA Euro 2008 Qualification
8 26 March 2008 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania  Russia 1–0 3–0 Friendly
9 19 November 2008 Stadionul Dinamo, Bucharest, Romania  Georgia 1–1 2–1 Friendly
10 11 February 2009 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania  Croatia 1–0 1–2 Friendly
11 28 March 2009 Stadionul Farul, Constanța, Romania  Serbia 1–2 2–3 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
12 6 June 2009 Sūduva Stadium, Marijampolė, Lithuania  Lithuania 1–0 1–0 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
13 17 November 2010 Hypo-Arena, Klagenfurt, Austria  Italy 1–0 1–1 Friendly
14 26 March 2011 Bilino Polje, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 1–2 UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification
15. 3 June 2011 Giulești-Valentin Stănescu, Bucharest, Romania  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification
16. 3–0
17 7 September 2012 A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia  Estonia 2–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
18 16 October 2012 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania  Netherlands 1–2 1–4 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
19. 4 June 2013 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania  Trinidad and Tobago 1–0 4–0 Friendly
20. 2–0
21. 4–0
22 6 September 2013 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania  Hungary 1–0 3–0 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
23. 15 October 2013 Arena Națională, Bucharest, Romania  Estonia 1–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification
24. 2–0
25 7 September 2014 Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece  Greece 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2016 Qualification

Honours

Dinamo București[20]
Shakhtar Donetsk[20]

Career statistics

As of 7 April 2014[21][22][23]
Club League Season League Cup Super Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dinamo București Divizia A 2001–02 2000000020
2002–03 111300000141
2003–04 10312--51166
Total 234420051327
Shakhtar Donetsk Vyscha Liha 2003–04 124201000154
2004–05 162701050292
2005–06 214101092326
2006–07 24620001143710
Total 73161203025611322
VfB Stuttgart Bundesliga 2007–08 282300041353
2008–09 27431001154110
2009–10 25102000613311
2010–11 133200093246
Total 931910100301013330
Schalke 04 2011–12 2121000111333
2012–13 133330030196
Total 3454300141529
Getafe La Liga 2013–14 224210000245
Total 224210000245
Career Total 2454832730741835473

References

  1. ↑ "Ciprian Marica". vfb-stuttgart.de. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  2. ↑ Stokkermans, Karel (12 December 2013). "Ciprian Marica - Goals in International Matches". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  3. ↑ Burt, Jason (19 July 2007). "Eriksson hoping Marica can boost City's firepower". London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
  4. ↑ "Ciprian Marica signs for VfB". www.vfb.de. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2007.
  5. ↑ "Ciprian Marica parts company with VfB". VfB Stuttgart. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Ciprian Marica erhält Vertrag bis 2013" (in German). Official website of Schalke 04. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "Marica, doi ani la Schalke 04" (in Romanian). adevarul.ro. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "Blackburn eye Romania striker". mirrorfootball.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  9. ↑ "Marica vers le PSG ?" (in French). L'Équipe.fr. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "Maccabi Haifa Schalke Match facts". guardian.co.uk. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  11. ↑ "Maccabi Haifa Schalke live commentary". goal.com. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Wenzel, Peter (29 January 2012). "Marica: Solo-Show in Köln" (in German). bild.de. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Schalke bleibt an Bayern und Dortmund dran" (in German). focus.de. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  14. ↑ Луческу подтвердил интерес к Марике (in Russian). worldtransfer.ru. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ciprian Marica nuevo futbolista azulón" (in Spanish). getafecf.com. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  16. ↑ "Ciprian es algo más que un nombre" (in Spanish). Marca.com. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  17. ↑ "Getafe secure survival". skysports.com. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Torku Konyaspor'umuz Ciprian Marica ve Djalma Campos ile sözleşme imzaladı" (in Turkish). konyaspor.org.tr. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "Ciprian Marica - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "C. Marica". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  21. ↑ "Ciprian Marica". ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  22. ↑ "Ciprian Marica". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  23. ↑ "Marica, Ciprian" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 5 April 2010.

External links

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