Lucian Sânmărtean

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Lucian Sânmărtean
Sânmărtean with Utrecht in 2007
Personal information
Full name Lucian Iulian Sânmărtean
Date of birth (1980-03-13) 13 March 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth Bistrița, Romania
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder, winger
Youth career
1987–1998
Gloria Bistrița
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2003
Gloria Bistrița
89 (12)
2003–2007 Panathinaikos 24 (1)
2007–2008 Utrecht 17 (0)
2009
Gloria Bistrița
26 (1)
2010–2014
Vaslui
122 (12)
2014–2015 Steaua București 26 (5)
2015–2016
Al-Ittihad
31 (6)
2016–2017 Pandurii Târgu Jiu 17 (2)
2017
Al-Taawoun
8 (0)
2017–2018 Voluntari 5 (0)
Total 365 (39)
International career
2000–2002 Romania U21 12 (1)
2002–2016 Romania 21 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lucian Iulian Sânmărtean (born 13 March 1980) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a winger.

Regarded by coach

Romanian Footballer of the Year in 2014.[3] Sânmărtean was often praised for his exceptional passing and uncommon dribbling ability,[4][5][6]
however much of his career was marked by injuries.

Sânmărtean gained his first

cap for the Romania national team in November 2002. He amassed 21 games for the nation and represented it at the UEFA Euro 2016
.

Club career

Gloria Bistrița

Born in

Gloria Bistrița, after he was noticed by Constantin Sava.[1] He joined the Vampires' youth academy at the age of six.[1]

Sănmărtean made his Gloria Bistrița first-team debut on 24 April 1999 in a 3–1 win against FC Onești as a substitute.

Gloria Bistriţa
.

On 7 January 2003, the 23-year-old was seen as a straight replacement for former Rapid București captain Constantin Schumacher after his departure, media reports suggesting a fee of €250,000 being paid for Sânmărtean.[8] Sânmărtean joined Rapid at their winter training camp in Antalya, Turkey, but for reasons which seemed mysterious at the time, he was prevented from playing more than 60 minutes of Rapid's friendly fixtures. On 2 February, he was diagnosed as suffering from type B and type D hepatitis at the Sports Medicine Institute in Bucharest.[9] However, after his return in Bistriţa, his medical file came clean, the disease being invented, to cover the money disagreement between the two chairmen.[1][10]

Panathinaikos

On 16 July 2003,

Alpha Ethniki, against Panionios. In his first season, he won the championship, and the Greek fans called him "Sânmărtean – The little magician".[13] Later he had a conflict with Alberto Malesani and after no matches in more than two years, Sânmărtean was released from his Panathinaikos deal in December 2006.[14]

Utrecht

Sânmărtean signing autographs for Utrecht fans in 2007.

On 15 February 2007,

AS Monaco, being handed the no. 12 shirt.[16] On 8 April, he was in the startup team against Willem II, counting his Eredivisie debut.[17] On 31 August 2008, Utrecht and Sânmărtean decided to end their cooperation, because of his injuries.[18]

Return to Gloria Bistrița

After he became a free agent, Sânmărtean started training by himself in Bistrița.

assisted Gloria's first, in a 2–2 draw against CFR Cluj. It was his first assist, since his return to Gloria.[21] On 23 May, he played his 100 match in Liga I for Gloria Bistriţa.[22] In July, Steaua expressed its interest in the Romanian playmaker, but the disagreement over the player's wage, persuaded him to extend his contract with Gloria.[23]

On 19 September, Sănmărtean scored his first goal since December 2004, in a league match against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.

Steaua București.[25] On 3 December, following a conflict with the team's manager Halagian, Gloria Bistriţa released Sănmărtean.[26]

Vaslui

Shortly after, Sănmărtean signed a 2.5-year contract with the Moldavian team

Romanian Cup Final, but he was substituted at half time, due to a minor injury. Vaslui eventually lost the cup in the penalty shootout.[34] The 2009–10 campaign, represented Sănmărtean's first season, from the past six years, without any major injury.[citation needed
]

The

assists for his team.[6]

Although he missed the entire pre-season due to an injury,

Oţelul Galaţi, helping his team qualifying in the Romanian Cup semi-finals, for the third time in the last four years.[52]

Steaua București

Steaua București
, October 2014.

In February 2014, Sănmărtean signed a one-year and a half deal with

Steaua București. He scored on his club debut from a penalty kick in the 44th minute as Steaua won 4–0 over Concordia Chiajna.[53] He won his first domestic league title in Romania under the management of Laurențiu Reghecampf during his first season at the club.[54]

Later years

On 3 January 2015, he signed a contract with

Al-Ittihad, when he entered his final six months of the deal with Steaua.[55] The two clubs reached an agreement to release the player before his contract with Steaua ended, thus he joined Al-Ittihad in January 2015.[56]

On 22 November 2017 he announced his football return after signing with FC Voluntari.[57] Sânmărtean retired from football in July 2018, after one season Voluntari.[58]

International career

The former

Victor Piturca's appointment as Romanian national team's coach, Sânmărtean was not called for the friendly against San Marino, despite his good shape.[4] The Romanian fans started a petition called "Sânmărtean at the National team" on Facebook[61][62] but it had no effect because he was not included in the squad once again.[63] Nevertheless, Lucian was called up for the qualifying matches vs. Belarus and Albania in October 2011. He was also called up for Euro 2016
in France, making one appearance as Romania were eliminated in the group stage.

He officially announced his retirement from the national team on 13 June 2017 before Romania's match against Chile.

Personal life

On 27 July 2010, he became a father for the first time when his ex-wife gave birth to a girl, whom they named Natalia. [1]

His younger brother

Vaslui.[64][65]

After his retirement, he became football pundit, joining Premier League Show on Eurosport Romania, the show that covers the top English football league matches.

Career statistics

Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Gloria Bistriţa
1998–99 Divizia A 1 0 1 0
1999–00 9 0 2 0 2 1 13 1
2000–01 26 2 2 0 28 2
2001–02 27 3 2 1 1 0 30 4
2002–03 26 7 1 0 3 0 30 7
2003–04 3 3 3 3
Total 89 12 7 1 2 1 7 3 105 17
Panathinaikos
2003–04
Alpha Ethniki
18 1 4 1 4 0 26 2
2004–05
6 0 0 0 1 1 7 1
Total 24 1 4 1 5 1 33 3
Utrecht
2006–07
Eredivisie 2 0 1 0 3 0
2007–08
14 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
2008–09
1 0 0 0 1 0
Total 17 0 1 0 0 0 18 0
Gloria Bistriţa
2008–09 Liga I 11 0 0 0 11 0
2009–10 15 1 1 0 16 1
Total 26 1 1 0 27 1
Vaslui
2009–10 Liga I 16 0 3 1 19 1
2010–11 29 2 1 0 2 0 32 2
2011–12 31 2 4 0 10 0 45 2
2012–13 29 7 1 0 4 0 34 7
2013–14 17 1 3 0 20 1
Total 122 12 12 1 16 0 150 13
Steaua București
2013–14 Liga I 12 2 3 0 15 2
2014–15 14 3 1 0 1 0 11 1 0 0 27 4
Total 26 5 4 0 1 0 11 1 0 0 42 6
Ittihad
2014–15
Saudi Professional League
11 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 15 0
2015–16
20 6 4 2 3 2 6 1 33 11
Total 31 6 4 2 7 2 6 1 48 11
Pandurii Târgu Jiu 2016–17 Liga I 17 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 2
Al-Taawoun
2016–17
Saudi Professional League 8 0 3 1 0 0 5 0 16 1
Voluntari 2017–18 Liga I 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Career total 365 39 36 6 10 3 50 6 0 0 461 54

International

[66]

National team Year Apps Goals
Romania
2002 1 0
2003 2 0
2011 4 0
2014 4 0
2015 5 0
2016 5 0
Total 21 0

Honours

Gloria Bistrita

Panathinaikos

Vaslui

Steaua București

Individual

References

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  2. ^ "Sanmartean era cel mai talentat jucator roman dupa Hagi". Sport.ro. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  3. ^ a b "EDIŢIE DE COLECŢIE A GAZETEI – Iată laureaţii Superlativelor GSP 2014! Tolontan îl elogiază pe stranierul anului" [SPECIAL GAZETA EDITION – Here are the GSP Superlatives winners for 2014! Tolontan praises the foreigner of the year]. Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 22 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Sanmartean e un fotbalist stralucitor, nu inteleg de ce nu e chemat la nationala" (in Romanian). GSP. 14 August 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Cifrele lui Sanmartean din returul cu Sparta sunt incredibile" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 28 August 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Sanmartean cel mai tehnic" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 22 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Lucian Sanmartean" (in Romanian). cfgloria.ro. 13 March 2009. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Rapid snare Sanmartean". UEFA.com. 8 January 2003.
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  13. ^ Μάγος με πήλινα πόδια! (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
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  17. ^ "Utrecht 3–0 Willem". Soccernet. 8 April 2007.
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  28. ^ "Vasluiul l-a luat si pe Dinu Sanmartean" (in Romanian). ProSport. 11 February 2009.
  29. ^ "Vedetele lui Porumboiu s-au impotmolit la Medias" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 21 February 2010.
  30. ^ "Lacatus se bate iar la titlu" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 18 March 2010.
  31. ^ "Lacatus salvat" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 22 March 2009.
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  43. ^ "Oscar cu sala goala" (in Romanian). ProSport. 22 July 2011.
  44. ^ "Vasluiul, ce minune!" (in Romanian). ProSport. 18 August 2011.
  45. ^ "I-a calcat in picioare" (in Romanian). Vremea Noua. 12 September 2011.
  46. ^ "Sanmartean si-a prelungit contractul" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 18 November 2011.
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  49. ^ "Sânmărtean considera anul 2011 maximul carierei sale" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 22 December 2011.
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  65. ^ "Sanmartean din Liga 1 in liga a saptea! Cand nu este pe teren, petrece 8 ore pe zi intr-o fabrica!" [Sanmartean from the Liga 1 to the seventh league! When not in the field, he spends 8 hours a day in a factory!] (in Romanian). cancan.ro. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  66. ^ "Lucian Sânmartean". European Football. Retrieved 29 June 2023.

External links