Cristian Săpunaru
Cristian Ionuț Săpunaru (born 5 April 1984) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays mainly as a centre-back for Liga I club Rapid București, which he captains. He can also be deployed as a right-back or a defensive midfielder.
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Săpunaru captaining Romania in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cristian Ionuț Săpunaru | ||
| Date of birth | 5 April 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender, defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Rapid București | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1990–2002 | Național București | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2002–2006 | Național București | 34 | (3) |
| 2003–2004 | → Callatis Mangalia (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | Rapid București | 51 | (3) |
| 2008–2012 | Porto | 56 | (2) |
| 2010 | → Rapid București (loan) | 10 | (3) |
| 2012–2013 | Zaragoza | 29 | (2) |
| 2013–2014 | Elche | 8 | (1) |
| 2015 | Rapid București | 13 | (4) |
| 2015–2016 | Pandurii Târgu Jiu | 22 | (5) |
| 2016–2017 | Astra Giurgiu | 32 | (8) |
| 2017–2019 | Kayserispor | 59 | (2) |
| 2019 | Denizlispor | 14 | (0) |
| 2020–2021 | Kayserispor | 38 | (1) |
| 2021– | Rapid București | 107 | (6) |
| International career | |||
| 2006 | Romania U21 | 3 | (0) |
| 2008–2019 | Romania | 36 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 April 2024 | |||
Săpunaru began his senior career with Național București in 2002, before going on to make a name for himself at Rapid București four years later. In 2008 he signed with Porto in Portugal, where he won ten major honours over the course of four years, including the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. After two additional seasons in Spain featuring for Zaragoza and Elche, Săpunaru spent his late years with stints between his native country and Turkey.
A full international for Romania between 2008 and 2019, he amassed 36 caps and represented the nation in two European Championships.