Sorin Ghionea (born 11 May 1979) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a centre-back
At the age of 12, Ghionea was sent to OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi football club by his teacher, TicÃÂ PloieÃÂteanu. The second day he was hand-picked by the coach and played there for 2 years. After that he studied hard at school and left football until the 10th grade when he went back to the youth team of OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi. At first he played as a full left back, but then he moved into the center of defense.
Ghionea made his debut as a player for DunÃÂrea Galaà £i during the 1997âÂÂ98 season and helped his team avoid relegation in Liga III. Just one year later, he joined OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi. He debuted in Divizia A on 7 August 1998 in the win against FC NaÃÂional.
He played for OÃÂelul between 1998 and 2003 62 matches and scoring two goals. He also was loaned by Steaua to OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi in the 2004âÂÂ05 season in Liga I.
In 2002, Ghionea moved to Steaua BucureÃÂti for free transfer, but he did not convince Victor Piturca, Steaua's manager at that time, playing only in 6 matches and then being loaned back to OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi. He played as a captain for OÃÂelul on his loaned season in most of the matches and he had excellent performances.
In 2004, the ex-president of OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi, now manager of Steaua BucureÃÂti, Mihai Stoica, took him back to the team from Bucharest. When he returned to Steaua, Victor Pià £urcàleft to coach the Romania national football team and Walter Zenga became Steaua's new manager.
In September 2004, Ghionea went through an operation on his nose after the match against FK Voà ¾dovac. To protect his nose, he played wearing a mask and he was nicknamed "Zorro". He became close to Dorin Goian a basic player for Steaua BucureÃÂti especially after he took Mirel RÃÂdoi's place in the central defense after he was injured for a couple of time. When RÃÂdoi returned to the first team he was put to play in the midfield and Ghionea kept his place.
With Steaua BucureÃÂti he played 53 games in two seasons and succeeded to win two consecutive champion titles in 2005 and 2006.
In the European Cups he debuted with Steaua in UEFA Cup in the season 2004âÂÂ05 which was very good for them because they succeeded to qualify in the European Spring after more than 10 years. Steaua passed from a group with Standard Liège, Sampdoria, Besiktas Istanbul and Athletic Bilbao and also eliminated after this the ex-winner of UEFA Cup, Valencia.
The next season in UEFA Cup was even better because Steaua played in the semi-finals after defeated teams like Lens, Heerenveen, Real Betis and in the quarter-finals Rapid BucureÃÂti, one of their traditional Romanian rivals. In the semi-final was eliminated by Middlesbrough after two fantastic games.
He scored his first goal for Steaua against Dynamo Kyiv, in the UEFA Champions League group stage. After a corner kick served by VasilicÃÂ Cristocea, Ghionea placed a header on the right post and in the back of the net.
On 25 February 2007, Ghionea suffered an injury in Steaua â UTA Arad, match ended with a draw. His situation got worse and he was forced to have surgery on his left knee in April 2007. After 4 months from the injury, Ghionea started his training on the pitch, closely supervised by medic Radu Paligora. Even though it was said that Ghionea would not miss the start of Liga I 2007âÂÂ08 season on 28 July, his knee was not fully recovered and he did not play in any match for Steaua. In October 2007 there were rumors that Ghionea would no longer play football, but coach Massimo Pedrazzini said that the information was not true and Ghionea was still recovering. On 13 October 2007 the center back went through another surgery to check the natural causes of his injury and to estimate the period that he would be unavailable.
On 18 January 2008, he played his first game since his injury, after 11 months, a friendly match against Wisà Âa Kraków that ended 0âÂÂ0. He played in almost all of the season's remaining matches.
On 10 July 2008, Steaua BucureÃÂti rejected a â¬1.5m bid from Serie A side Catania but Ghionea decided to remain at the club for the foreseeable future.
On 20 January 2010, Steaua announced that Ghionea was sold to FC Rostov. The Romanian centre-back signed until June 2013. He made his debut in a 0âÂÂ2 defeat to Tom Tomsk on 13 March 2010. After spending a season in the Russian Premier League Ghionea, decided to terminate his contract with Rostov on 7 February 2011.
On 9 February 2011, Ghionea signed an initial six-month contract with Poli, with the option to extend it for another two years. Ghionea made his home debut for Politehnica TimiÃÂoara in 3âÂÂ1 win against Gaz Metan Mediaà  on 26 February 2011. Although Poli finished second at the end of the 2010âÂÂ11 Liga I season and was supposed to play in the 2011âÂÂ12 UEFA Champions League, however, the club was relegated to the second division because of accumulated debt and Ghionea left Poli on 19 July.
On 19 July 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Liga I side FCM Târgu Mureà Â.
Ghionea made his international debut for Romania on 27 March 2002 in a friendly against Ukraine, and his international career got off to a winning start with a 4âÂÂ1 victory for Romania. Since then Ghionea has won nine further caps for Romania. He was sent off in Romania's second 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against the Faroe Islands in which Romania won 1âÂÂ0.
OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi
Steaua BucureÃÂti