George Ogăraru
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| George Ogăraru | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Cristian Ogăraru | |
| Date of birth | February 3, 1980 | |
| Place of birth |  Bucharest, Romania |
|
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | |
| Playing position | Right Defender | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Ajax | |
| Number | 20 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Steaua Bucureşti | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1998-2006 2000-2001 2001-2002 2006- |
Steaua Bucureşti → CSM Reşiţa (loan) → Oţelul Galaţi (loan) Ajax |
105 (3) 25 (1) 20 (1) 41 (0) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2005- | Romania | 7 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
George Ogăraru, (born February 3, 1980 in Bucharest), is a Romanian football player, who currently plays for Ajax. His position on the pitch is right defender.
Contents |
[edit] Club Career
[edit] Steaua Bucharest
Ogararu is one of the few players that were promoted by Steaua’s youth club. He started his professional football career playing for Steaua Bucharest at 18 years old.
He debuted in Divizia A on the 28th November, 1998 in a victory against Olimpia Satu-Mare with 3-0.
In his first and second seasons at Steaua he was more a substitute player and played only 12 games but didn't succeed to score any goal. In the 2000-2001 season he was loaned at CSM Resita in Divizia B where played in 25 games and scored once.
He came back in the next season 2001-2002 in Liga 1 not playing for Steaua but for Otelul Galati. There he played 20 games and scored a goal.
In 2002 when Mihai Stoica, the president of Otelul Galati became the general manager of Steaua, he took Ogararu with him at his first team. Ogararu 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 Bucuresti in UEFA Cup in 30 games but didn't 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 FC after a dramatic game in England ended 4-2 for English team.
He played in Romania's Divizia A for Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest between 1998 and 2000 and again between 2002 and 2006, winning the Cupa României in 1999 and the Divizia A championship in 2005.
Ogararu played 125 games in Divizia A, scoring four goals and also 25 games in Divizia B, scoring once.
After his move to Ajax he declared that he will one day return to Steaua.
[edit] Ajax Amsterdam
In the summer break of 2006 Ajax paid $3.3 million to sign Ogararu, thus materializing the second most expensive transfer from a Romanian football club, after Gheorghe Hagi’s transfer to Real Madrid for $4.3 million.
He debuted for Ajax in a official game on the 20th of August 2006 against RKC Waalwijk and his team won with 5-0.
On 13 August 2006 Ajax Amsterdam, with Ogararu 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. Ogararu played only 45 minutes.
The second trophy won by Ogararu with Ajax was the Dutch Cup (KNVB Cup) after eliminating AZ Alkmaar in the final after a penalty shoot-out.
On 15 November 2006 he visited his old teammates from Steaua wishing them good luck against Dinamo Kiev in the Uefa Champions League match and hoping that they won't be facing each other in the Uefa Cup, if Steaua doesn't get pass the group stage.
The Johan Cruijff-schaal was successfully defended in 2007 with the win against PSV Eindhoven with 1-0. Ogararu only played 25 minutes being injured and was immediately substituted.
[edit] International Career
Ogararu earned his first cap for Romania on 26 March 2005, in a 2-0 loss against Netherlands. After that match, Victor Piturca repeatably dropped Ogararu from the squad saying that he had an average performance at Ajax Amsterdam.
He was called up by Victor Piturca after 2 years and 6 months, on 9 October 2007 against Netherlands, the same team against which he played his last game for Romania. Ogararu said that he knows the Dutchmen very well because he plays for Ajax in Eredivise 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.
[edit] Statistics
| Season | Club | Competition | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999/00 | Steaua | Divizia A |
5 | 0 |
| 2000/01 | Steaua | Divizia A |
7 | 0 |
| 2001/02 | CSM Reşiţa | Divizia B |
25 | 1 |
| 2001/02 | Oţelul Galaţi | Divizia A |
20 | 1 |
| 2002/03 | Steaua | Divizia A |
23 | 0 |
| 2004/04 | Steaua | Divizia A |
16 | 0 |
| 2004/05 | Steaua | Divizia A |
28 | 2 |
| 2005/06 | Steaua | Divizia A |
25 | 1 |
| 2006/07 | Ajax |  Eredivisie |
28 | 0 |
| 2007/08 | Ajax | Eredivisie |
13 | 0 |
| Total | 190 | 5 | ||
[edit] Career honours/achievements
- Romanian Supercup (1999 , Steaua)
- Liga I (2004/2005, Steaua)
- Liga I (2005/2006, Steaua)
- Dutch Supercup (2006, Ajax)
- Dutch Cup (2006/2007, Ajax)
- Dutch Supercup (2007, Ajax)
[edit] Personal Life
Marius Lacatus became on 6 January 2007 the godfather of Ogararu's second child. Lacatus was also the godfather of Eric, George Ogararu's first child.
On 16 November 2007 George 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.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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