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.[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 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 2 years and 6 months, on 9 October 2007 against Netherlands, the same team against which he played his last game for Romania.
Career statistics
Club
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Steaua București | 1998–99 | Divizia A | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 0 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 0 | ||||
| 2003–04 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | – | 21 | 0 | |||
| 2004–05 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12[a] | 0 | – | 41 | 2 | |||
| 2005–06 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18[c] | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 47 | 1 | ||
| Total | 107 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 150 | 3 | ||
| CSM Reșița (loan) | 2000–01 | Divizia B | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 1 | ||
| Oțelul Galați (loan) | 2001–02 | Divizia A | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 20 | 1 | ||
| Ajax | 2006–07 | Eredivisie | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6[a] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 40 | 0 |
| 2007–08 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 22 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 44 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 0 | ||
| Steaua București (loan) | 2008–09 | Liga I | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[e] | 0 | – | 24 | 0 | |
| Sion | 2010–11 | Swiss Super League | 28 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 4 | ||
| 2011–12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| Total | 31 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 34 | 4 | ||||
| Career total | 251 | 7 | 19 | 2 | 46 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 320 | 9 | ||
- ^ a b c d e Appearances in UEFA Cup
- ^ a b Appearance in Supercupa României
- ^ Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, fourteen appearances in UEFA Cup
- ^ a b Appearances in Johan Cruyff Shield
- ^ Appearance in UEFA Champions League
International
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 2003 | 1 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 12 | 0 | |
Managerial statistics
- As of 28 February 2015
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
 Universitatea Cluj
|
3 September 2014 | 1 March 2015 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 24 | −5 | 23.53 |
| Total | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 24 | −5 | 23.53 | ||
Honours
Player
Steaua București
- Divizia A: 2004–05, 2005–06
- Cupa României: 1998–99
- Supercupa României runner-up: 1999, 2005
Ajax
Sion
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
- ^ "Ex-Ajax FB George Ogararu Joins Sounders on Trial". 9 September 2012.
- ^ 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./
- ^ 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.
- ^ "George Ogăraru". European Football. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
External links
- Ogăraru's football academy at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 April 2016) (in Romanian)
- George Ogăraru at SteauaFC.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 March 2016) (in Romanian)
- George Ogăraru at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
- George Ogăraru at ESPN FC
- George Ogăraru at FBref.com