Bogdan Stelea

Bogdan Gheorghe Stelea (Romanian pronunciation: [boɡˈdanˈstele̯a]; born 5 December 1967) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He played professionally into his 40s, featuring for all three major Liga I clubs in his country's capital. A significant part of his career was spent in Spain, mainly with Salamanca. Additionally, Stelea made nearly 100 appearances for Romania, representing the nation in three World Cups and two European Championships.

Club career

Stelea was born on 5 December 1967 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing football at age 12 when he was brought to the youth center of Dinamo București by boxing coach Dumitru Ion. There, he worked with Iosif Varga, and also during these years he was teammates with future national team competitor Florin Prunea. He made his Liga I debut on 20 November 1986, playing for Dinamo under the guidance of coach Mircea Lucescu in a 2–0 victory against Oțelul Galați. However, shortly afterwards he was sent on loan for the second half of the season to Politehnica Iași, where he did not make any appearances.

Stelea returned under Lucescu's command at Dinamo, becoming first choice goalkeeper in 1988, replacing Dumitru Moraru. His first performance was reaching the quarter-finals of the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after 1–1 on aggregate by Sampdoria, conceding only two goals in six games, keeping four clean sheets. In the following season he helped the club win The Double, playing 22 league matches, and appearing the entire match in the 6–4 win over rivals Steaua București in the Cupa României final. He also played eight matches in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign when the team reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht, conceding five goals and keeping three clean sheets.

While he was in a training camp before a game in the 1990–91 European Cup against Porto, Stelea was nicknamed Arnold by Corneliu Vadim Tudor who visited them, because his haircut looked similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger's in the movie Red Heat. In the 1991–92 season he was used by coach Florin Halagian in 11 league games as The Red Dogs won the championship undefeated. They also eliminated Luis Figo's Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup with a 2–1 aggregate victory. However, he did not finish the season with them, as he was transferred late in 1991 to Mallorca for €300,000.

Stelea made his La Liga debut under coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer in a 2–0 away loss to Real Madrid, one of the goals conceded was scored by his compatriot Gheorghe Hagi. After two seasons in Spain, with relegation in his first, he joined Belgium's Standard Liège where he was teammates with fellow Romanian Mircea Rednic. Because he did not play much for Standard and risked not being selected for Romania's 1994 World Cup squad, he returned home to play for half a year at Rapid București. After he participated in the World Cup, Stelea spent one year in Turkey at Samsunspor alongside compatriots Marius Cheregi and Daniel Timofte, being brought there by coach Gheorghe Mulțescu as first choice goalkeeper.

Afterwards, Stelea joined Steaua București, where in his two-year spell under coach Dumitru Dumitriu, helped win The Double in both seasons. He played 11 games in the Champions League group stage over the course of two seasons and kept a clean sheet in the 1995 Supercupa României victory against Petrolul Ploiești. During this period he also had a successful trial with Sunderland, but could not negotiate a deal.

In 1997, Stelea was transferred to UD Salamanca for €900,000, where he experienced his steadiest period, remaining with the team for seven years. However, this period was interrupted by a small loan spell at Rapid with whom he played under coach Mircea Rednic in the 2–1 victory against Dinamo in the 2002 Cupa României final. He appeared in 191 overall games for Los Charros during his tenure while competing mainly in the second division, but spent his first two seasons in the top flight. During these years, as he was teammates with fellow Romanians Cătălin Munteanu, Lucian Marinescu, Ovidiu Stîngă and Gabriel Popescu, the club's nickname was "Salamanca Rumana". His performances in 1998 earned him the fourth place in the Romanian Footballer of the Year award. In 2004, Stelea returned to Dinamo, helping the club win the 2004–05 Cupa României, being used by coach Ioan Andone in the final where he kept a clean sheet in the victory against Farul Constanța. In 2005 he was brought in Greece to Akratitos together with Lucian Marinescu by his former national team colleague Ilie Dumitrescu who was coach.

In 2006, Stelea returned to Romania and signed with Oțelul Galați, where he spent half a season, but did not feature in any matches because of an injury. The following campaign he moved to Unirea Urziceni for two seasons, being coached by his former national team colleague Dan Petrescu, but he became first choice only in the second season. Stelea finally ended his 23-year-long career at age 41 by the end of the 2008–09 season, playing 23 matches under coach Răzvan Lucescu at FC Brașov, managing not to concede any goals for 707 consecutive minutes.

International career

Early years and 1990 World Cup

Stelea played 91 games for Romania in which he conceded 72 goals, making his debut on 23 November 1988 when coach Emerich Jenei sent him to replace Silviu Lung for the last 20 minutes of a 3–0 friendly victory against Israel. His second game was a 1–0 victory against Bulgaria in the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers. He was selected by coach Jenei to be part of the final tournament squad, but did not play in any games.

1994 World Cup and Euro 1996

After playing one match during the Euro 1992 qualifiers, Stelea made six appearances in the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers. He was part of the "Golden Generation" that reached the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup final tournament, but was used by coach Anghel Iordănescu in only two group stage games, a 3–1 victory against Colombia and a 4–1 loss to Switzerland. Florin Prunea was chosen to play in the other three games of the campaign. Stelea played 10 games during the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers. Subsequently, he played under Iordănescu in two 1–0 losses to France and Bulgaria in the final tournament, as his side failed to progress from their group.

1998 World Cup and Euro 2000

Stelea played eight games in the successful 1998 World Cup qualifiers. Afterwards he was used by Iordănescu in all four games during the final tournament as the team reached the round of 16 where they were eliminated after a 1–0 loss to Croatia. He went on to play seven matches during the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers. Then he played under Jenei in all four games in the final tournament as they reached the quarter-finals where they were defeated with 2–1 by Italy.

Final years

Stelea played seven games during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, including the lost play-off to Slovenia. In his final years, he made one appearance in the Euro 2004 qualifiers in a 3–0 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also was the team's captain for the first and only time in a 2006 World Cup qualifier 1–1 draw against Armenia in which he had a highly appreciated performance. He made his final appearance for the national team on 9 February 2005 in a 2–2 friendly draw against Slovakia.

For representing his country during 1990–2000 at the World and European Cups final tournaments, Stelea was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Controversies

On 3 June 1998, during a friendly against Paraguay, played at the Ghencea stadium, Stelea was booed by the fans after conceding a goal by Roberto Acuña and in response he made some obscene gestures towards them. He later stated that he had a moment of weakness because his child was very sick in the hospital at that time. In 2001, he had a fight with the striker Ionel Ganea in a training session that occurred before a Romania – Italy game.

Managerial career

Stelea started his coaching career in 2009, when he worked as an assistant for Romania's national team under Răzvan Lucescu, who had been his coach at his last club, FC Brașov. On 6 June 2012, Stelea became head coach of Astra Ploiești, but two months later, following a home draw against CS Turnu Severin, he was sacked and replaced with Gheorghe Mulțescu. Afterwards he went to coach for a year Romania's under-21 national team from 2013 until 2014. In June 2014, Stelea accepted an offer from his former national team colleague Gheorghe Hagi to coach his club Viitorul Constanța, but resigned after not obtaining any victory in the first four rounds of the season.

Personal life

His son, Bogdan Stelea Jr., was also a footballer who played as a defender and spent his career in the lower leagues of Romania, playing for teams such as FC Snagov and Chindia Târgoviște.

In 1994, Stelea was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1989–90, 1991–92
• Cupa României: 1989–90, 2004–05

Standard Liège

• Belgian Super Cup runner-up: 1993

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 1995–96, 1996–97
• Cupa României: 1995–96, 1996–97
• Supercupa României: 1995

Rapid București

• Cupa României: 2001–02

Unirea Urziceni

• Cupa României runner-up: 2007–08

Individual

• Romanian Footballer of the Year (fourth place): 1998

External links

• at WorldFootball.net
• at National-Football-Teams.com
• at Soccerway
• – FIFA competition record (archived)