# Gheorghe Craioveanu

Gheorghe "Gică" Craioveanu (born 14 February 1968) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a striker.
He spent most of his professional career in Spain–11 years out of 18–with Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Getafe, respectively, amassing totals of 330 matches and 70 goals in both major levels combined.
A Romanian international in the 1990s, Craioveanu represented the nation at the 1998 World Cup.

## Club career
### Early career

Craioveanu, nicknamed Grande was born on 14 February 1968 in Hunedoara, Romania, starting to play junior level football at age 13 at Olt Scornicești. In 1987 he started his senior career at Constructorul Slatina, three years later moving at neighboring club, Metalurgistul, then one year later he went at Drobeta-Turnu Severin where he was coached by Ilie Balaci.

### Universitatea Craiova

In 1991 he went to play for Universitatea Craiova where he made his Divizia A debut on 3 March in a 1–0 away loss to Steaua București. At the end of his first season, Craioveanu helped the club win The Double under the guidance of coach Sorin Cârțu in which he contributed with three goals scored in 13 league appearances, also he was sent in the 87th minute to replace Adrian Pigulea in the 2–1 win over FC Bacău from the Cupa României final. Two years later he would win another Cupa României, this time coach Marian Bondrea sent him on the field in the 70th minute to replace Silvian Cristescu in the final, managing to close the score by the end of the game, a 2–0 against Dacia Unirea Brăila. In the following two seasons, Craioveanu would be the top-scorer of the league, scoring 22 goals in the first one and 27 in the second of which eight were in the last two rounds and consisted of five in a 10–3 over UTA Arad and a hat-trick in his last Divizia A match which was a 5–4 win against Electroputere Craiova.
Craioveanu has a total of 61 goals scored in 129 appearances in the Romanian top-division, all of them for "U" Craiova.

### Real Sociedad

In the summer of 1995, Craioveanu joined La Liga side Real Sociedad who paid one million$ for his transfer. He made his league debut on 8 October when coach Salva Iriarte sent him on the field in the 69th minute in order to replace Óscar de Paula in a 3–0 away loss to Real Valladolid. He scored his first goal on 17 November in a 3–1 away loss to Real Betis, netting a total of 11 until the end of the season, including a brace in a 3–1 over Celta de Vigo and a hat-trick in a 8–1 against Albacete which helped the team finish in seventh position. In the following season he scored eight goals including a brace in a victory against Extremadura and two goals in two draws with Atlético Madrid, then in his last season with The White and Blues he netted seven goals under the guidance of coach Bernd Krauss which include a double in a win over Compostela, helping the team finish on the third place.
When Real Sociedad reached 100 years since its foundation, Craioveanu was voted as the club's "most loved foreigner", receiving as gift a marshal's baton.

### Villarreal

In 1998 he moved to Villarreal where for a short while he was teammate with fellow Romanian Marius Iordache. He played in Villarreal's first ever La Liga match on 31 August under the guidance of coach José Antonio Irulegui, opening the score against Real Madrid with a header in the third minute, thus becoming the first ever scorer in the league for his team, however the game was lost with 4–1 and Craioveanu was replaced late in the first half after being injured by Roberto Carlos. He would score in the 1–1 with Celta Vigo from the following round, going on to score two doubles in victories against Salamanca and Barcelona, two goals in a win and a draw with Atlético Madrid, his side's only goal in a victory over Valencia and also a goal in a 1–1 against his former team Real Sociedad, earning a total of 13 goals until the end of the season which however were not enough to avoid relegation. He stayed with the club one year in Segunda División, netting eight goals which helped The Yellow Submarine promote back to the first league where he would spend two more seasons.
In 2019, the Marca newspaper organized a poll in which he was placed sixth on the ranking for the best player in the history of Villarreal.

### Getafe

In 2002, Craioveanu went to play for Segunda División side, Getafe, helping the team earn a first ever promotion to the first league, two years later. Afterwards he was teammate with compatriot Cosmin Contra, scoring his last two top-league goals during the 2004–05 season in a 2–1 loss to Barcelona and a 2–2 against Atlético Madrid. In the following season, Craioveanu made his last appearances in the La Liga, having a total of 223 matches with 48 goals scored in the competition.
In 2019, in a poll made by the Marca newspaper, Craioveanu was named the best player in the history of Getafe. The city hall of Getafe placed a statue of him in the El Bercial park.

## International career

Craioveanu earned 25 caps for Romania, scoring four goals, making his debut on 8 September 1993 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in the 68th minute to replace Ion Vlădoiu in a 4–0 win against Faroe Islands at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. He scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory over Israel.
He played seven games and scored three goals in both victories over Liechtenstein at the successful 1998 World Cup qualifiers. At the final tournament, in the group stage they earned victories in the first two rounds against Colombia and England, thus mathematically being qualified before the last group match with Tunisia where in order to celebrate, they all dyed their hair blonde and presented themselves like that at the game. However he did not play at all in the group stage, Iordănescu using him only in the round of 16 when he sent him in the 57th minute to replace captain Gheorghe Hagi in the 1–0 loss to Croatia.
He played five games at the Euro 2000 qualifiers, including his last appearance for The Tricolours on 9 June 1999 in a 4–0 home win over Azerbaijan.
For representing his country at the 1998 World Cup, Craioveanu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

### International stats

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Romania | 1993 | 2 | 0 |
| Romania | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| Romania | 1995 | 2 | 0 |
| Romania | 1996 | 4 | 1 |
| Romania | 1997 | 7 | 3 |
| Romania | 1998 | 4 | 0 |
| Romania | 1999 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 25 | 4 |
    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Craioveanu goal.
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 in Getafe (the city of his last club) in Madrid's metropolitan area. During the local elections of 2007 he won a sports adviser seat on the local council, running as an independent with backing from the People's Party, this was the first suffrage during which Romanian citizens were eligible in other European Union counties, following Romania's European integration. On 16 June 2007, as a result of a local alliance between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Izquierda 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. He also worked as a co-presenter in La Sexta's football programme Minuto y Resultado, and a radio commentator on Onda 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.
Between 2013 and 2023, Craioveanu was the image director of Universitatea Craiova.

## Personal life

Craioveanu's son, Alejandro, played youth football for Castellón de la Plana-based CD Drac as well as Villarreal.

## Honours

Universitatea Craiova
* Divizia A: 1990–91
* Cupa României: 1990–91, 1992–93
Individual
* Divizia A top scorer: 1993–94, 1994–95