Lucian Sănmărtean

Gloria Bistrița

Born in Bistrița, Sânmărtean started out playing for hometown side Gloria Bistrița, after he was noticed by Constantin Sava. He joined the Vampires' youth academy at the age of six. Sănmărtean made his Gloria Bistrița first-team debut on 24 April 1999 in a 3–1 win against FC Onești as a substitute. He immediately established himself as one of the most talented young players in Romania. He helped his team, winning the last League Cup ever in 2000, scoring in the penalty shootout. He also contributed to his team finishing 3rd in Divizia A, highest rank ever, for Gloria Bistriţa. On 7 January 2003, the 23-year-old was seen as a straight replacement for former Rapid București captain Constantin Schumacher after his departure, media reports suggesting a fee of €250,000 being paid for Sânmărtean. Sânmărtean joined Rapid at their winter training camp in Antalya, Turkey, but for reasons which seemed mysterious at the time, he was prevented from playing more than 60 minutes of Rapid's friendly fixtures. On 2 February, he was diagnosed as suffering from type B and type D hepatitis at the Sports Medicine Institute in Bucharest. However, after his return in Bistriţa, his medical file came clean, the disease being invented, to cover the money disagreement between the two chairmen.

Panathinaikos

On 16 July 2003, Panathinaikos confirmed the €900,000 signing of Sânmărtean. He signed a three-year contract with the option of a further two years with the…

A former Romania U-21 captain, Sânmărtean earned his first cap in an exhibition match against Croatia on 20 November 2002. Because of the hepatitis rumours he lost for a few months the national team, but he was recalled for the friendly against Lithuania. On 23 May 2011, he was recalled for the Euro 2012 qualifying match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, following Victor Piturca's appointment as Romanian national team's coach, Sânmărtean was not called for the friendly against San Marino, despite his good shape. The Romanian fans started a petition called "Sânmărtean at the National team" on Facebook but it had no effect because he was not included in the squad once again. Nevertheless, Lucian was called up for the qualifying matches vs. Belarus and Albania in October 2011. He was also called up for Euro 2016 in France, making one appearance as Romania were eliminated in the group stage. He officially announced his retirement from the national team on 13 June 2017 before Romania's match against Chile.

Club

International

In 2010, he married Romanian sprinter and breast cancer survivor Maria Rus, with whom he has a daughter. His younger brother Dinu was also a professional footballer. They have played together for both Gloria Bistriţa and Vaslui. After his retirement, he became a football pundit, joining Eurosport Romania's Premier League Show, a program that covers the top English football league matches.