Gheorghe Craioveanu

Early career

Craioveanu, nicknamed Grande, was born on 14 February 1968 in Hunedoara, Romania and began playing junior-level football when he was 13 years old at Olt Scornicești. In 1987 he started his senior career at Constructorul Slatina, three years later moving to neighboring club, Metalurgistul. A year later he went to Drobeta-Turnu Severin where he was coached by his childhood idol 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 coach Sorin Cârțu in which he contributed with three goals scored in 13 league appearances. Cârțu also sent him in the 87th minute to replace Adrian Pigulea in the 2–1 win over FC Bacău in the Cupa României final. Two years later, he would win another Cupa României, with coach Marian Bondrea sending him in the 70th minute to replace Silvian Cristescu in the final, Craioveanu closing the score by the end of the 2–0 victory against Dacia Unirea Brăila. In the following two seasons, Craioveanu would be the top-scorer of the league. He scored 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 win 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…

Craioveanu earned 25 caps for Romania, scoring four goals, making his debut on 8 September 1993 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him in the 68th minute to replace Ion Vlădoiu in a 4–0 win over Faroe Islands in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. He scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly that ended with a 2–0 victory over Israel. He played seven games and scored three goals in both victories against Liechtenstein in the successful 1998 World Cup qualifiers. During the group stage of the final tournament, they earned victories in the first two rounds over Colombia and England, thus mathematically qualifying before the last group match against Tunisia. In order to celebrate, the players dyed their hair blonde and presented themselves like that at the game. However, Craioveanu did not play at all in the group stage, as Iordănescu used 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 in 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.

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Craioveanu goal.

Craioveanu has a son, Codruț, from his first marriage, which ended in divorce, and later remarried a Spanish woman named Gemma, with whom he has two children. His son, Alejandro, played youth football for Castellón de la Plana-based CD Drac as well as Villarreal. In 2025, Craioveanu was named Honorary Citizen of Slatina.