Constantin Gâlcă

Constantin Gâlcă (born 8 March 1972) is a Romanian former footballer, and is a manager currently in charge of Danish Superliga club Vejle Boldklub.

Constantin Gâlcă
Personal information
Full name Constantin Gâlcă[1]
Date of birth (1972-03-08) 8 March 1972
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Vejle Boldklub (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1989 Progresul București
1989–1991 Argeș Pitești 35 (2)
1991–1996 Steaua București 148 (24)
1996–1997 Mallorca 34 (13)
1997–2001 Espanyol 123 (16)
2001–2003 Villarreal 38 (1)
2003 → Zaragoza (loan) 24 (0)
2003–2006 Almería 98 (4)
Total 500 (60)
National team
1993–2005 Romania 68 (4)
Teams managed
2009–2010 Almería B
2013–2014 Romania U17
2014–2015 Steaua București
2015–2016 Espanyol
2016–2017 Al-Taawoun
2017 Al-Fayha
2019– Vejle Boldklub
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was equally at ease as a defensive or central midfielder and had an accurate long-range shot. He first made a name for himself at Steaua București, then proceeded to spend one full decade in Spain, playing in 318 matches in both major levels combined and representing five clubs.

Additionally, Gâlcă appeared for Romania in two World Cups and as many European Championships, winning 68 caps.[2]

Playing career

Club

Born in Bucharest, Gâlcă's senior career began at age 16 in the third division, with FC Progresul București. Only one year after he switched to the Liga I with lowly FC Argeș Pitești, for whom he played four times towards the end of the season, soon breaking into the Romanian national under-21 team.

After one more season with solid displays (31 games, two goals), Gâlcă signed with country giants CSA Steaua București, immediately beginning to produce: in his debut campaign, he scored five times in 26 matches.

Gâlcă stayed at Steaua two more years, netting 13 goals combined. After winning the domestic cup and having appeared in nearly 200 official matches, he left for Spain where he would remain the next 11 years. First stop was RCD Mallorca in the Balearic Islands,[3] for which he scored 13 times to help to a promotion to La Liga (that total was tied for squad best). He then experienced a steady period with Barcelona-based RCD Espanyol, scoring five goals in his third season, which also ended with conquest of the Copa del Rey.

Gâlcă signed with Villarreal CF in summer 2001, but was deemed surplus to requirements midway through his second year, which he finished in the second division on loan to Real Zaragoza, being instrumental as the latter club returned to the top flight after one year of absence by starting in all his appearances.

Gâlcă still had three more solid seasons in the country with second-tier club UD Almería, playing 40 matches in his last season, one year before the Andalusians first reached the top division. He eventually returned to the national team with this team in 2005 – after a three-year absence – and retired in June 2006 at the age of 34.

International

Galca made his full debut for Romania on 22 September 1993, against Israel in a friendly. Called up for the 1994 FIFA World Cup he played three times during the tournament, against the United States in the group stage, in the famous 3–2 round-of-16 success against Argentina and in the penalty shootout defeat to Sweden in the last-eight.[2]

From 1996 to 2000, Gâlcă featured in over forty more international games for Romania, often pairing with Dorinel Munteanu in central midfield. During the qualifying phase for the 1998 World Cup the national side were undefeated in their ten group fixtures, drawing only once and netting 37 goals, with him scoring two. In those finals and UEFA Euro 2000 the country was beaten, respectively, in the last-16 and last-eight, as he started in every match.

International goals

(Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gâlcă goal)[2]

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.24 April 1996Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Georgia5–05–0Friendly
2.31 August 1996Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Lithuania3–03–01998 World Cup qualification
3.20 August 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania North Macedonia2–04–21998 World Cup qualification
4.10 September 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Iceland3–04–01998 World Cup qualification

Coaching career

Established in Almería after his playing days, Gâlcă took up coaching in 2009–10, starting with Almería's B-team in the fourth tier. He was sacked on 19 January 2010, after a string of poor results.[4]

On 20 August 2013, Gâlcă was named head coach of Romania under-17s. He ended his contract in June 2014 and, also in that month, was appointed at league champions FC Steaua București on a two-year deal, replacing outgoing Laurențiu Reghecampf[5] and leading the team to the double in his first and only season.[6]

On 14 December 2015, Gâlcă replaced former club teammate Sergio at the helm of Espanyol.[7] His first game in charge took place the following day, a 2–1 home win against Levante UD for the Copa del Rey (3–2 on aggregate).[8] The following 27 May, having led the Periquitos to 13th, his contract was not renewed.[9]

Gâlcă was hired by Al-Taawoun FC of the Saudi Professional League on 19 October 2016.[10] For the following season, he moved to Al-Fayha FC in the same league.[11] Having won once in nine games and with the club in the relegation zone, he was dismissed on 7 November 2017.[12]

On 6 March 2019, Gâlcă returned to European football with Vejle Boldklub, last-placed in the Danish Superliga.[13]

Honours

Player

Steaua București

Espanyol

Manager

Steaua București

Vejle Boldklub

Managerial statistics
As of 2 February 2021[14]
Team From To Record
GWDLGFGAGDWin %
Romania U-17 20 August 2013 1 June 2014 13 5 5 3 17 10 +7 038.46
FCSB 1 June 2014 1 June 2015 58 37 8 13 110 53 +57 063.79
Espanyol 14 December 2015 1 June 2016 25 8 5 12 28 53 −25 032.00
Al-Taawoun 16 October 2016 20 March 2017 21 10 3 8 23 24 −1 047.62
Al-Fayha 20 May 2017 7 November 2017 18 3 7 8 3 7 −4 016.67
Vejle Boldklub 6 March 2019 Present 61 31 15 15 109 74 +35 050.82
Total 180 91 36 53 290 221 +69 050.56

References
  1. "Acta del Partido celebrado el 17 de junio de 2006, en Castellón de la Plana" [Minutes of the Match held on 17 June 2006, in Castellón de la Plana] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  2. "Constantin Galca – International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  3. "Alud de presentaciones" [Presentations galore] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 20 July 1996. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  4. "Galca, destituido como técnico del Almería B" [Galca, fired as Almería B manager]. Marca (in Spanish). 19 January 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  5. "Gâlcă returning to Steaua as coach". UEFA. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  6. "Classy Steaua win Romanian Cup to complete treble". Yahoo Sports. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  7. "Constantin Galca, new coach of RCD Espanyol". RCD Espanyol. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  8. "Caicedo resuelve la eliminatoria" [Caicedo decides tie]. Marca (in Spanish). 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  9. Molero, Iván (27 May 2016). "Constantin Galca's time as Espanyol manager is cut short". Diario AS. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. Youssef, Ram (19 October 2016). "Al Taawon appoint Constantin Galca as head coach". Goal. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. "Emilio Izaguirre 'very sad' at Celtic exit for Al-Fayha in Saudi Arabia". BBC Sport. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. "ULTIMA ORĂ Costel Gâlcă a fost demis de la Al Fayha. Cine a fost adus în locul său" [LATEST Costel Gâlcă was dismissed from Al Fayha. Who was brought in his place] (in Romanian). Telekom Sport. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  13. "Costantin Galca entrenará al Vejle de la Liga Danesa" [Constantin Gâlcă will manage Vejle of the Danish League] (in Spanish). Be Soccer. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  14. Constantin Gâlcă coach profile at Soccerway
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