Marius Popa

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Marius Popa

| fullname = Marius Cornel Popa

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|7|31|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Oradea, Romania

| height = {{height|m=1.84}}

| position = Goalkeeper

| currentclub = FCSB (GK coach)

| youthyears1 = {{0|0000}}–1997| youthclubs1 = Bihor Oradea

| years1 = 1997–1999 |clubs1 = Bihor Oradea |caps1 = 34 |goals1 = 0

| years2 = 2000–2004 |clubs2 = Naţional București |caps2 = 46 |goals2 = 0

| years3 = 2005–2009 |clubs3 = Politehnica Timişoara |caps3 = 100 |goals3 = 0

| years4 = 2009–2010 |clubs4 = Internaţional Curtea de Argeş |caps4 = 30 |goals4 = 0

| years5 = 2010 |clubs5 = Pandurii Târgu Jiu |caps5 = 12 |goals5 = 0

| years6 = 2011–2012 |clubs6 = Universitatea Cluj |caps6 = 22 |goals6 = 0

| totalcaps = 244 | totalgoals = 0

| nationalyears1 = 2008 |nationalteam1 = Romania |nationalcaps1 = 2 |nationalgoals1 = 0

| manageryears1 = 2012–2013 |managerclubs1 = Luceafărul Oradea (GK coach)

| manageryears2 = 2013 |managerclubs2 = Oțelul Galați (GK coach)

| manageryears3 = 2014–2015 |managerclubs3 = ACS Poli Timișoara (GK coach)

| manageryears4 = 2015 |managerclubs4 = Steaua București (GK coach)

| manageryears5 = 2016 |managerclubs5 = Luceafărul Oradea (GK coach)

| manageryears6 = 2016 |managerclubs6 = Luceafărul Oradea

| manageryears7 = 2016–2017 |managerclubs7 = Pandurii Târgu Jiu (GK coach)

| manageryears8 = 2017– |managerclubs8 = FCSB (GK coach)

}}

Marius Cornel Popa (born 31 July 1978) is a Romanian former professional footballer who serves as a goalkeeping coach for Liga I club FCSB.

Club career

He started his career at the local team, Bihor Oradea in 1997 and three years later moved to FC Naţional. He managed to break into the first team in 2003 and his performances have earned him a few call-ups, although Popa has not played any minute yet for the Romania National team. He joined Poli in the winter break of the 2004/2005 season, together with National coach Cosmin Olăroiu and team-mates Gabriel Cânu, Gabriel Caramarin and Gigel Coman.

He has been the number one goalkeeper since arriving at Poli. However, he missed out on the Cupa României Final lost against Rapid Bucharest in the 2006/2007 season, when poor form and an injury a few weeks before the match offered youngster Costel Pantilimon the chance the shine. Pantilimon did not manage to hold on to his first team slot and Popa has since returned in goal.

International career

Popa has also been called up to the Romania national team eleven times and made his debut in a friendly against Russia. He represented his country at the 2008 UEFA European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.[http://www.euro2008info.com/teams_romania.htm UEFA Euro 2008: Romania Squad] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213155400/http://euro2008info.com/teams_romania.htm |date=13 February 2009 }} Euro 2008 Info. Retrieved 6 February 2010.