George Ogăraru
{{Short description|Romanian footballer and manager}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = George Ogăraru
| image = George Ogararu.jpg
| caption = Ogăraru in 2007
| image_size = 250
| fullname = George Cristian Ogăraru
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|2|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = Bucharest, Romania
| height = 1.78 m
| currentclub = CSA Steaua București (technical youth center director)
| position = Right back
| youthyears1 = 1991–1998 |youthclubs1 = Steaua București
| years1 = 1998–2006 |clubs1 = Steaua București |caps1 = 107 |goals1 = 3
| years2 = 2000–2001 |clubs2 = → CSM Reșița (loan) |caps2 = 25 |goals2 = 1
| years3 = 2001–2002 |clubs3 = → Oțelul Galați (loan) |caps3 = 20 |goals3 = 1
| years4 = 2006–2010 |clubs4 = Ajax |caps4 = 48 |goals4 = 0
| years5 = 2008–2009 |clubs5 = → Steaua București (loan) |caps5 = 20 |goals5 = 0
| years6 = 2010–2012 |clubs6 = Sion |caps6 = 31 |goals6 = 2
| totalcaps = 251 | totalgoals = 7
| nationalyears1 = 1998–1999 | nationalteam1 = Romania U18 | nationalcaps1 = 2 | nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 1999–2000 | nationalteam2 = Romania U21 | nationalcaps2 = 5 | nationalgoals2 = 0
| nationalyears3 = 2003–2009 |nationalteam3 = Romania |nationalcaps3 = 12 |nationalgoals3 = 0
| manageryears1 = 2013–2014 | managerclubs1 = Jong Ajax (assistant)
| manageryears2 = 2014–2015 | managerclubs2 = Universitatea Cluj
| manageryears3 = 2016 | managerclubs3 = Ajax U18
| manageryears4 = 2016–2017 | managerclubs4 = Jong Ajax (assistant)
| manageryears5 = 2019 | managerclubs5 = Viitorul Constanța (director of scouting)
| manageryears6 = 2020–2021 | managerclubs6 = CSA Steaua București (Executive president)
| manageryears7 = 2021– | managerclubs7 = CSA Steaua București (technical youth center director)
}}
George Cristian Ogăraru (born 3 February 1980) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a right back, currently technical youth center director at Liga II club CSA Steaua București.
Club career
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 2000–01 season he was loaned at CSM Reșița in Divizia B, where he played in 25 games and scored once.
He was loaned again in 2001–02 season, this time at 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 Steaua 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.
=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 Dutch Super Cup against PSV Eindhoven with 3–1.
The second trophy won by Ogararu with Ajax was the Dutch Cup.
==Steaua comeback==
On 30 August 2008, he was loaned out to Steaua București until June 2009.
=Sion=
On 30 June 2010 Sion signed the Romanian right-back from Ajax on a free transfer until 30 June 2012.
=Seattle Sounders=
Ogăraru was training with Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/9/9/3306456/george-ogararu-seattle-sounders-trial|title=Ex-Ajax FB George Ogararu Joins Sounders on Trial|date=9 September 2012}} On 9 September 2012 he was on the Sounders' bench for their reserves match against Chivas USA,{{cite tweet|user=LIVESounders|author=Sounders Matchday|number=244851427682435072|date=9 September 2012|title=On the bench for Seattle are George Ogararu, a Romanian international who played 2006–2010 at Ajax.}}/ then subbed on for fellow trialist Eiður Guðjohnsen to start the second half.{{cite tweet|user=LIVESounders|author=Sounders Matchday|number=244874746251063296|date=9 September 2012|title=George Ogararu subs on for Eidur Gudjohnsen at halftime. He takes over at right back, Seamon moves to midfield and Cato to forward.}}
International career
Ogăraru earned his first cap for Romania on 26 March 2005, in a 2–0 loss against the 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 two years and six months, on 9 October 2007 against Netherlands, the same team against which he played his last game for Romania.
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.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}
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.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}
Career statistics
=Club=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | ||||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|Cup !colspan="2"|Continental !colspan="2"|Other !colspan="2"|Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| rowspan="7"|Steaua București
|rowspan="6"|Divizia A |5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 7 | 0 | |||
| 1999–2000
|7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1{{efn|name=UEF|Appearances in UEFA Cup}} | 0 | 1{{efn|name=SCR|Appearance in Supercupa României}} | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2002–03
|23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 25 | 0 | |||
| 2003–04
|16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3{{efn|name=UEF}} | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 21 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05
|28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12{{efn|name=UEF}} | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 41 | 2 | ||
| 2005–06
|28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18{{efn|Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, fourteen appearances in UEFA Cup}} | 0 | 1{{efn|name=SCR}} | 0 | 47 | 1 | |
| colspan="2"|Total
!107 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 150 | 3 | |
| CSM Reșița (loan)
|25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 25 | 1 | |||
| Oțelul Galați (loan)
|Divizia A |20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 20 | 1 | |||
| rowspan="5"|Ajax
|rowspan="4"|Eredivisie |28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6{{efn|name=UEF}} | 0 | 1{{efn|name=JCS|Appearances in Johan Cruyff Shield}} | 0 | 40 | 0 | |
| 2007–08
|16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2{{efn|name=UEF}} | 0 | 1{{efn|name=JCS}} | 0 | 22 | 0 | |
| 2008–09
|0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2009–10
|0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 1 | 0 | ||
| colspan="2"|Total
!44 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 0 | |
| Steaua București (loan)
|20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4{{efn|name=UCL|Appearance in UEFA Champions League}} | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 24 | 0 | ||
| rowspan="3"|Sion
|rowspan="2"|Swiss Super League |28 | 2 | 3 | 2 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 31 | 4 | |||
| 2011–12
|3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 3 | 0 | ||
| colspan="2"|Total
!31 | 2 | 3 | 2 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 34 | 4 | |||
| colspan="3"|Career total
!251 | 7 | 19 | 2 | 46 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 320 | 9 |
{{notelist}}
=International=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year{{cite web |url=https://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=15475 |title=George Ogăraru |publisher=European Football |access-date=20 March 2025}} | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="7"|Romania
|2003 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| colspan="2"|Total | 12 | 0 |
Managerial statistics
{{updated|28 February 2015}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" | |||||||
| rowspan=2|Team
!rowspan=2|From !rowspan=2|To !colspan=8|Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| align=left|{{flagicon|Romania}} Universitatea Cluj
|align=left|3 September 2014 |align=left|1 March 2015 {{WDL|17|4|6|7|for=19|against=24|diff=yes}} | |||||||
| colspan="3"|Total
{{WDLtot|17|4|6|7|for=19|against=24|diff=yes}} |
Honours
=Player=
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420215859/http://academiageorgeogararu.ro/ |date=20 April 2016 |title=Ogăraru's football academy}} {{in lang|ro}}
- {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020114/http://steauafc.com/ro/jucator/94/ |date=5 March 2016 |title=George Ogăraru at SteauaFC.com}} {{in lang|ro}}
- {{RomanianSoccer|1441/george-cristian-ogararu}}
- {{ESPN FC|38315/george-ogararu}}
- {{FBref|4cbbd567/George-Ogararu}}
{{Navboxes
|title= George Ogăraru managerial positions
|list1=
{{FC Universitatea Cluj managers}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogararu, George}}
Category:Footballers from Bucharest
Category:Romanian men's footballers
Category:Men's association football defenders
Category:ASC Oțelul Galați players
Category:Swiss Super League players
Category:Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Category:Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands
Category:Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands
Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland
Category:Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
Category:Romania men's youth international footballers
Category:Romania men's under-21 international footballers
Category:Romania men's international footballers
Category:Romanian football managers
Category:Romanian expatriate football managers
Category:Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands
Category:AFC Ajax non-playing staff
Category:FC Universitatea Cluj managers