# Andrei Mărgăritescu

Andrei Silviu Margaritescu (born 1 January 1980) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

## Club career

Andrei Mărgăritescu, nicknamed China was born in Pitești on 1 January 1980, starting to play junior level football at local club, Argeș where he worked with coach Cristian Gheorghe. He made his Divizia A debut at age 19 on 2 November 1999, playing for Rapid București under coach Mircea Lucescu in a 2–1 victory against FC Brașov. After taking a red card in a game against Steaua București, Lucescu gave him to wear the captain armband in the following game in order to make him more responsible and less aggressive in his play.
After only one season at Rapid, Mărgăritescu went to play four seasons in Divizia B for Tractorul Brașov, Olimpia Satu Mare and Unirea Focșani, after which he returned to Divizia A football as he was signed by Dinamo București where he was recommended by Lucescu and a coach from his youth career, Ionuț Chirilă. With The Red Dogs he managed to win the only three trophies of his career, the first two being under the guidance of coach Ioan Andone, firstly the 2004–05 Cupa României when he played all the minutes of the 1–0 victory against Farul Constanța from the final and the second being the 2005 Supercupa României when he played the whole game in the 3–2 victory against rivals Steaua București. Also Andone used him in seven games from the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when the team eliminated Everton with a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage. Afterwards he helped Dinamo win the 2006–07 Liga I title, being used by coach Mircea Rednic in 31 games in which he scored one goal. In the same season the team reached the sixteenths-finals of the UEFA Cup where they were eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica, Mărgăritescu playing 11 games in the campaign.
In 2008, Mărgăritescu went to play alongside fellow Romanians Florentin Petre and Daniel Pancu in the Russian Premier League for Terek Grozny. He returned to Dinamo in 2009, where he would stay for one year and a half. In the 2011–12 season spent at Mioveni, he played his last Divizia A matches, a competition in which he has a total of 156 matches played and four goals scored, he also has a total 29 games played without scoring in European competitions. Mărgăritescu spent the last years of his career playing in the Romanian lower leagues at Mioveni, Atletic Bradu, Urban Titu and SCM Pitești.

## International career

Andrei Mărgăritescu played three matches for Romania at the Euro 2008 qualifiers, under coach Victor Pițurcă. He made his debut when he came as a substitute and replaced Laurențiu Roșu in the 90th minute of a 2–0 away victory against Albania. His second game was a 2–0 away victory against Luxembourg and his final game was the second leg against Albania, a 6–1 home victory.
On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, for his performance in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G, where Romania managed to qualify to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.

### International stats

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Romania | 2006 | 1 | 0 |
| Romania | 2007 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 3 | 0 |

## Controversy

On 27 June 2014, Mărgăritescu received a three-year suspended sentence for buying a car while knowing it was stolen.

## Honours

Rapid București
* Supercupa României: 1999
Dinamo București
* Liga I: 2006–07
* Cupa României: 2004–05
* Supercupa României: 2005