# Gabriel Mureșan

Gabriel Stelian Mureșan (born 13 February 1982) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

## Club career
### Early career

Gabriel Mureșan was born on 13 February 1982 in Sighișoara, Romania, starting to play junior level football while being aged 13 at local club, Dealul Mare. When he was 17 he went for half of year at Gaz Metan Mediaș. Afterwards he returned to Dealul Mare Sighișoara, starting his senior career in the fourth league. After half of year, Mureșan put his football career on hold, going to work at an amusement park in Germany for one year and a half. He then returned to Dealul Mare, being close to promote to the third league but eventually Mobila Sovata finished above them. He had an offer to play for Sovata but eventually went to first league side, Gloria Bistrița. However in his half of year spent at Gloria he made no appearances in the league so he decided to sign with Mobila Sovata.

### Gaz Metan Mediaș and Gloria Bistrița

In 2004, during a friendly played between Mobila Sovata and Gaz Metan Mediaș, Mureșan's style of play impressed the opponents coach Ioan Sabău who choose to transfer him to the second league side.
In 2005 when Sabău left Mediaș to go at Gloria Bistrița he took Mureșan with him, giving him his Liga I debut on 24 September in a 2–1 away loss in front of Pandurii Târgu Jiu. He scored his first goal on 21 October in a 2–1 win over FCM Bacău. In the following round he scored from a free kick the only goal of a 1–0 away victory against Steaua București. He would score another goal in a 2–0 win with Sportul Studențesc București, ending his first top-league season with three goals scored in 18 appearances but also receiving three red cards. In the following season he scored a personal record of eight goals.

### CFR Cluj

In the summer of 2007, Mureșan was transferred by CFR Cluj who paid Gloria Bistrița 150.000€ and gave five players in exchange. In his first season with CFR he helped the club win The Double which were the first trophies in the club's history, being used by coach Ioan Andone in 22 league games. He also played in the Cupa României final, Andone sending him on the field in the 81st minute in order to replace Sixto Peralta in the 2–1 win over Unirea Urziceni and he made his debut in a European club competition, playing in both legs of the 3–1 loss on aggregate in front of Anorthosis from the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. He then played six games in the 2008–09 Champions League group stage with The Railway Men, including a historical 2–1 victory on Stadio Olimpico against AS Roma after which he earned the nickname "The Pope from Rome" as he earned 23 rebounds in the match. In the same season he won another Cupa României, coach Toni Conceição using him all the minutes in the 3–0 over Politehnica Timișoara from the final.
In the 2009–10 season, Mureșan won with CFR another Double, being used by coaches Conceição and Andrea Mandorlini in 28 games, scoring two goals in each of the two victories against Rapid București, also playing all the minutes in the victory at the penalty shoot-out against FC Vaslui from the Cupa României final. He scored an important goal with a header in a 2–1 win against FK Sarajevo from the 2009–10 Europa League play-off which helped the team reach the group stage where he played four games, receiving a red card in a 3–2 loss in front of Sparta Prague. He started the following season by winning the 2010 Supercupa României, coach Mandorlini using him all the minutes in the victory at the penalty shoot-out with Unirea Urziceni, then he played all the minutes in a 2–1 win against Basel from the 2010–11 Champions League group stage.
Mureșan's last trophy won with The White and Burgundies was the 2011–12 title, coaches Jorge Costa and Andone using him in 28 matches in which he scored four goals, including a brace in a 2–0 over Oțelul Galați and one goal in the 3–2 victory from the Cluj derby against Universitatea Cluj which earned the points that mathematically made them champions. Next season he played 10 games in the team's 2012–13 Champions League campaign as they got past Slovan Liberec and Basel in the qualifying rounds, then earning 10 points in a group composed of Manchester United, Galatasaray and Braga which helped them finish third, qualifying to the sixteenths-finals of the Europa League where they were defeated by Inter Milan.

### Tom Tomsk

After six seasons spent at CFR, Gabriel Mureșan went to play for Tom Tomsk. He made his Russian Premier League debut on 16 July 2013 when coach Anatoliy Davydov used him all the minutes in a 2–0 away loss in front of Amkar Perm. He appeared in 21 league games until the end of season as the team finished on the 13th place and relegated to the second division where after playing two matches in the following season, Mureșan left the team.

### ASA Târgu Mureș

Afterwards he returned to Romania, signing with ASA Târgu Mureș. In his first season, the 33-year-old Mureșan made a strong couple in the central midfield with 36-year-old Ousmane N'Doye and in a 1–0 win over Steaua București from October 2014, their aggressive play injured opponents Raul Rusescu and Claudiu Keșerü, receiving harsh suspensions from the Disciplinary Commission of the Romanian Football Federation, which however were reduced after they made an appeal. By the end of the season he scored five goals in 25 matches, including a spectacular double in a 2–1 win against Dinamo București, helping ASA fight for the title until the last round when he scored his side's goal in the 2–1 defeat in front of Oțelul Galați, thus finishing on the second place, on the first being Steaua.
He started the following season by winning the Supercupa României, coach Dan Petrescu using him the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 victory against Steaua, then he played in ASA's 4–2 aggregate loss in front of Saint-Étienne from the third qualifying round of the Europa League, having a total of 28 appearances with one goal scored in European competitions. Gabriel Mureșan made his last Liga I appearance on 15 April 2017 in a 0–0 with Poli Timișoara, having a total of 260 matches with 37 goals scored in the competition.

## International career

Gabriel Mureșan made nine appearance at international level for Romania, making his debut on 2 June 2007 when coach Victor Pițurcă used him as a substitute in order to replace Dorel Stoica in the 79th minute of a Euro 2008 qualification game against Slovenia which ended with a 2–1 victory. His second game for the national team was in a 2–2 with France at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, he also played in three matches at the Euro 2012 qualifiers. On 11 July 2011 he captained the team in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 away loss in front of Paraguay, one month later making his last appearance for Romania in another friendly that was a 1–0 away victory with San Marino.

## Political career

In September 2020, Mureșan was elected mayor of the commune where he spent his childhood, Apold after receiving 63.09% of the votes, while running for PNL. He was re-elected in 2024 with 88.83% of the votes.

## Honours

CFR Cluj
* Liga I: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12
* Cupa României: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
* Supercupa României: 2009, 2010
ASA Târgu Mureș
* Supercupa României: 2015