Constantin Galca, (born March 8, 1972 in Bucharest) is a
Romanian football (soccer) defensive midfielder. By the end of
2005, he had played 68 matches for his country, scoring four
times. He has represented his country in the 1994 and 1998 World
Cups, and in the 1994 and 2000 European Football Championships.
Galca's career began in the 1989-90 season for lowly Romanian
First Division side, FC Arges, for whom he played four times
towards the end of the season and soon broke into the Romanian
Under-21 side at the age of 18. He impressed much more during
the following season with Arges, being a consistent performer
and scoring twice in thirty-one games. After that season, he
made the switch to Romania's best-known club, Steaua Bucharest,
who he apparently supported as a youngster. In his first season
he managed to play in twenty-six matches, scoring five goals,
including two memorable long-range strikes, which was something
he became famous for. But as well as being able to hit decent
shots from 20-35 yards, he was recognised as a battling, hard-working
and influential player with neat passing abilities and strong
tackling play. With good strength, anticipation, stamina,
creativity, an eye for goal and an incredible amount of spirit
and work rate, he was seen as a wonderful all-round midfield
player.
At the time around 1993 (in his third season with Steaua), the
1994 USA World Cup qualifying games came into place. He made his
international debut against Israel in a 1-0 win, aged 21. He
played ten more times for his country in 1994, playing in three
world cup matches against USA (The Hosts) in round one, in the
round of sixteen in the famous win against Gabriel Batistuta and
his Argentina side and he played in the unlucky quarter-final
penalty shoot-out defeat against fellow Europeans Sweden, who
featured Parma F.C.'s Thomas Brolin in their side.
He stayed at Bucharest until 1996 just after winning the
Romanian Cup, when he moved to Spanish Premier side Real
Mallorca. He went away from Romania as a Steaua Bucharest legend
after 148 appearances and 24 goals for them. His stay at
Mallorca was a short one, one season in fact (1996-97), he
played 34 games and scored an impressive 13 goals. After that
stint with Mallorca, he would move on to RCD Espanyol, where he
would stay until 2001. The season considered to be his best with
the Barcelona-based team was the 1999-2000 campaign, in which he
played a massive part in the Spanish Cup-winning side. He
appeared in 32 games and scored six times.
In the period after leaving Steaua Bucharest, he had featured in
over forty more international games for Romania, playing in two
successful qualification campaigns for the 1998 World cup in
France, and the 2000 European Championships in the Netherlands
and Belgium. He was in an insatiable central midfield
partnership alongside F.C. Köln and later to be VFL Wolfsburg
attacking midfielder Dorinel Munteanu. During the qualifications
for the 1998 World Cup the Romanians were undefeated in their
ten matches while drawing just once. They scored a remarkable 37
goals, of which Galca scored two, and conceded just four. They
were drawn in group G, which included Tunisia, Colombia and
England. Romania got through to the second round after winning
their group in which they drew once and won twice, including a
late 2-1 win against England. In the second round, Constantin
and his team-mates were beaten by a surprise Croatia team, Davor
Suker (who ended up as the tournament's top scorer) getting the
goal that sealed the fate of Romania. Constantin played all four
of these matches in what was an admirable display by his team.
The story was much the same at the European Championships in
2000, Romania yet again played in the same group as England and
beat them in another late show, and went to the quarter-finals
against Portugal. Romania were knocked out by a very talented
Italy side 2-0 in the quarter finals. And again Galca starred in
every match, and was seen as a key figure in Romania's rise
during this time.
Galca's stay at RCD Espanyol came to an end in the summer of
2001 when he signed for Villarreal CF, after playing 123 games
and scoring 15 goals. In his first season with Villarreal,
Constantin managed to cement a regular place within the side and
he appeared 36 times, scoring just once. In the following
campaign (2002-03), as well as falling out of favour in the
team, injury hit Galca for the early stages of the season and
after just three starts he was sent on loan to Real Zaragoza. He
was a much appreciated player for the Aragón-based outfit, where
he played 24 times, surprisingly with no goals to show for. At
the end of that season, he was released by Villareal and was
available on a free transfer; it was now clear that Constantin's
best days were behind him.
But despite his woeful and perhaps untimely exit from the big
stage, Constantin was given the opportunity to get back into the
game by Spanish Second Division side UD Almeria, where he was
still playing in 2005, and reportedly still performing to his
best. Since moving to Almeira, he has got back into the
Romainian national side for the first time since 2002. |
