George Ogăraru

George Ogăraru (born 3 February 1980 in Bucharest) is a retired Romanian footballer and current manager who holds a UEFA Pro Licence. His position on the pitch was right defender.

George Ogăraru
Ogăraru in 2007
Personal information
Date of birth (1980-02-03) 3 February 1980
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right defender
Club information
Current team
 Viitorul Constanța (director of scouting)
Youth career
1991–1998 Steaua București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2003 Steaua București 23 (0)
2000–2001 → Reșița (loan) 25 (1)
2001–2002 → Oțelul Galați (loan) 20 (1)
2003–2006 FCSB 83 (3)
2006–2010 Ajax 44 (0)
2008–2009 → FCSB (loan) 20 (0)
2010–2012 Sion 31 (2)
Total 246 (7)
National team
1998–1999 Romania U-18 2 (0)
1999–2000 Romania U-21 5 (0)
2005–2009 Romania 11 (0)
Teams managed
2013–2014 Jong Ajax (assistant)
2014–2015 Universitatea Cluj
2015–2016 Ajax U18
2016 Ajax A2
2016–2017 Jong Ajax (assistant)
2019 Viitorul Constanța (director of scouting)
2020– Steaua București (board of administration)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Steaua București

Ogăraru is one of the players that were promoted by Steaua București's youth club. He started his professional football career playing for Steaua at 18 years old. He debuted in Divizia A on 28 November 1998 in a victory against Olimpia Satu Mare with 3–0. In his first and second seasons at Steaua he was a substitute player and played only 7 games but did not score any goals.

In the 2000–2001 season he was signed by CSM Reșița in Liga II, where he played in 25 games and scored once.

He came back in the next season 2001–2002 in Liga 1 not playing for Steaua or Reșița but for Oțelul Galați. There he played 20 games and scored a goal.

In 2002 when Mihai Stoica, the president of Oțelul Galați became the general manager of Steaua, he took Ogăraru with him at his first team. Ogăraru became a basic player in Steaua's first eleven and in a few years his value grew very much. On 7 June 2006 Ogararu won the Divizia A Championship and also played his last game for FCSB in the win against FC Vaslui with 4–0.

He played for Steaua in UEFA Cup in 30 games but did not score any goal. The best seasons in UEFA Cup were in 2004–2005 when they qualified from the groups and succeeded to eliminate in the next tour Valencia, the ex-winner of UEFA Cup and especially in the season 2005–2006 when they played in the semifinals but they were defeated by Middlesbrough after the away-match in England ended 4–2 for Boro.

He played in Romania's Divizia A for Romanian giants Steaua between 1998 and 2000 and again between 2002 and 2003, winning the Cupa României in 1999.

After his move to Ajax he declared that he will one day return to Steaua București.

George Ogăraru training at Steaua.

Ajax

In the summer break of 2006 Ajax signed Ogăraru. He debuted for Ajax in an official game on 20 August 2006 against RKC Waalwijk and his team won, 5–0. On 13 August 2006 Ajax, with Ogăraru on the field from the first minute, won the Johan Cruijff-schaal against PSV Eindhoven with 3–1. The goals for Ajax were scored by Mauro Rosales, Kenneth Perez and Wesley Sneijder, for PSV Eindhoven scored Philip Cocu. Ogăraru played only 45 minutes.

The second trophy won by Ogararu with Ajax was the Dutch Cup (KNVB Cup) after eliminating AZ in the final after a penalty shoot-out (he scored there).

On 15 November 2006 he visited his old teammates from FCSB, wishing them good luck against Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League match and hoping that they would not be facing each other in the UEFA Cup, if FCSB does not get past the group stage. The Johan Cruijff-schaal was successfully defended in 2007 with a win against PSV Eindhoven, 1–0. Ogăraru played 25 minutes being injured and was immediately substituted.

Steaua comeback

On 30 August 2008 he was loaned out to FCSB. On June 2009 he returned to Ajax.

Sion

On 30 June 2010 Sion signed the Romanian right-back from Ajax on a free transfer until 30 June 2012.

Seattle Sounders FC

Ogăraru was training with Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.[1] On 9 September 2012 he was on the Sounders' bench for their reserves match against Chivas USA,[2] then subbed on for fellow trialist Eiður Guðjohnsen to start the second half.[3]

International career

Ogăraru earned his first cap for Romania on 26 March 2005, in a 2–0 loss against Netherlands. After that match, Victor Pițurcă repeatedly dropped Ogăraru from the squad saying that he had an average performance at Ajax Amsterdam.

He was called up by Pițurcă after 2 years and 6 months, on 9 October 2007 against Netherlands, the same team against which he played his last game for Romania. Ogăraru said that he knows the Dutch very well because he plays for Ajax in Eredivisie and most of his club teammates are also called for the Netherlands national football team.

Before the match his teammates from Ajax, Hedwiges Maduro and Urby Emanuelson, teased him and told him not to play good against them.

The match was won by Romania with 1–0 and the Romanian national football team had enough points to qualify in the next round of Euro 2008, together with Netherlands and leaving Bulgaria out of the next phase of the competition.

Statistics
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Steaua București 1998–99 5020--70
1999–00 7000101090
Total 12 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 16 0
CSM Reșița 2000–01 251--251
Total 25 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 1
Oțelul Galați 2001–02 201--201
Total 20 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 1
Steaua București 2002–03 11020--110
Total 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
FCSB 2002–03 12000--120
2003–04 1602030210
2004–05 28210120402
2005–06 2710018010471
Total 83 3 3 0 33 0 1 0 120 3
Ajax Amsterdam 2006–07 280506010400
2007–08 160302010220
Total 44 0 8 0 8 0 2 0 62 0
FCSB 2008–09 2000040-240
Total 20 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 24 0
Ajax Amsterdam 2009–10 001000-10
Total 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Sion 2010–11 28232--314
2011–12 300030
Total 31 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 34 4
Career Total 246 7 19 2 46 0 4 0 315 9

Honours
Season Club Title
1998–1999Steaua BucureștiRomanian Cup
2004–2005FCSBRomanian League
2005–2006FCSBRomanian League
2006–2007AFC AjaxDutch Supercup
2006–2007AFC AjaxDutch Cup
2007–2008AFC AjaxDutch Supercup
2010–2011FC SionSwiss Cup

Managerial statistics
As of 28 February 2015
Team From To Record
GWDLGFGAGDWin %
Universitatea Cluj 5 September 2014 1 March 2015 17 4 6 7 19 24 −5 023.53
Total 17 4 6 7 19 24 −5 023.53

Personal life

Marius Lăcătuș became the godfather of Ogăraru's second child on 6 January 2007. He is also the godfather of Eric, Ogăraru's first child.

On 16 November 2007, Ogăraru launched his own website, with photos and videos from official matches and training sessions. He also has a blog in which he talks with his fans. The site has two versions, one in English and one in Romanian.

References
  1. http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/9/9/3306456/george-ogararu-seattle-sounders-trial
  2. Sounders Matchday [@LIVESounders] (9 September 2012). "On the bench for Seattle are George Ogararu, a Romanian international who played 2006–2010 at Ajax" (Tweet) – via Twitter. /
  3. Sounders Matchday [@LIVESounders] (9 September 2012). "George Ogararu subs on for Eidur Gudjohnsen at halftime. He takes over at right back, Seamon moves to midfield and Cato to forward" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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