 Gâlcă during a press conference in 2014. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Constantin Gâlcă[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1972-03-08)8 March 1972 (age 53) | ||
| Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Rapid București (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1988 | Progresul București | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1989 | Progresul București | ||
| 1989–1991 | Argeș Pitești | 35 | (2) |
| 1991–1996 | Steaua București | 148 | (24) |
| 1996–1997 | Mallorca | 36 | (13) |
| 1997–2001 | Espanyol | 123 | (15) |
| 2001–2003 | Villarreal | 39 | (1) |
| 2003 | →Zaragoza (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 2003–2006 | Almería | 98 | (4) |
| Total | 502 | (59) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–1993 | Romania U21 | 7 | (1) |
| 1993–2005 | Romania | 68 | (4) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2010 | Almería B | ||
| 2013–2014 | Romania U17 | ||
| 2014–2015 | Steaua București | ||
| 2015–2016 | Espanyol | ||
| 2016–2017 | Al-Taawoun | ||
| 2017 | Al-Fayha | ||
| 2019–2021 | Vejle | ||
| 2021–2022 | Al-Hazem | ||
| 2023 | Radomiak Radom | ||
| 2024–2025 | Universitatea Craiova | ||
| 2025– | Rapid București | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Constantin "Costel"Gâlcă (born 8 March 1972) is a Romanian professionalfootball manager and formerplayer, who is currently in charge ofLiga I clubRapid București.
Equally at ease as adefensive orcentral midfielder and possessing an accurate long-range shot, he first made a name for himself atSteaua București. He then spent a full decade in Spain, playing in 318 matches in bothmajor levels combined and representing five clubs, most notablyEspanyol.
Additionally, Gâlcă appeared forRomania in twoWorld Cups and as manyEuropean Championships, winning 68caps.[2] As a manager, he led teams including both Steaua and Espanyol.
Born inBucharest, Gâlcă's senior career began at age 16 in thethird division, withFC Progresul București. Only one year after he switched to theDivizia A withFC Argeș Pitești, for whom he played four times towards the end of the season, soon breaking into theRomanian national under-21 team.
Afterone more season with solid displays (31 games, two goals), Gâlcă signed with country giantsSteaua București, immediately beginning to produce: inhis debut campaign, he scored five times in 26 matches.
Gâlcă stayed at Steaua two more years, netting 13 goals combined. After winningthe domestic cup and having appeared in nearly 200 official matches, he left for Spain where he would remain the next 11 years. First stop wasRCD Mallorca in theBalearic Islands,[3] for which he scored 13 times to help to apromotion toLa Liga (that total was tied for squad best). He then experienced a steady period withBarcelona-basedRCD Espanyol, scoring five goals inhis third season, which also ended withconquest of theCopa del Rey.
In July 2001, Gâlcă signed forVillarreal CF on a three-year deal with the option of one more.[4] Midway through hishis second year he was loaned toSegunda División clubReal Zaragoza; the team had an option to sign him if they won promotion, but did not transfer him despitethe achievement.[5]
Gâlcă still had three more solid seasons in the country with second-tier clubUD Almería, playing 40 matches inhis last season, one year before theAndalusians first reached the top division. He eventually returned to the national team with this team in 2005 – after a three-year absence – and retired in June 2006 at the age of 34.
Galca made his full debut forRomania on 22 September 1993, againstIsrael in afriendly. Called up for the1994 FIFA World Cup he played three times during the tournament, against theUnited States in the group stage, in the famous 3–2round-of-16 success againstArgentina and in thepenalty shootout defeat toSweden in the last-eight.[2]
From 1996 to 2000, Gâlcă featured in over forty more international games for Romania, often pairing withDorinel Munteanu in central midfield. Duringthe qualifying phase for the 1998 World Cup the national side were undefeated in their ten group fixtures, drawing only once and netting 37 goals, with him scoring two. Inthose finals andUEFA Euro 2000 the country was beaten, respectively, in the last-16 and last-eight, as he started in every match.
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 1993 | 1 | 0 |
| 1994 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 9 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 7 | 2 | |
| 1998 | 14 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 68 | 4 | |
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 24 April 1996 | Stadionul Steaua,Bucharest, Romania |  Georgia | 5–0 | 5–0 | Friendly |
| 2. | 31 August 1996 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Lithuania | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
| 3. | 20 August 1997 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Macedonia | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
| 4. | 10 September 1997 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Iceland | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
Established inAlmería after his playing days, Gâlcă took up coaching in2009–10, starting with Almería'sB-team in thefourth tier. He was sacked on 19 January 2010, after a string of poor results.[7]
On 20 August 2013, Gâlcă was named head coach ofRomania under-17s. He ended his contract in June 2014 and, also in that month, was appointed at league championsSteaua București on a two-year deal, replacing outgoingLaurențiu Reghecampf[8] and leading the team tothe double inhis first and only season.[9]
On 14 December 2015, Gâlcă replaced former club teammateSergio at the helm of Espanyol.[10] His first game in charge took place the following day, a 2–1 home win againstLevante UD for theCopa del Rey (3–2 on aggregate).[11] The following 27 May, having led thePeriquitos to 13th, his contract was not renewed.[12]
Gâlcă was hired bySaudi Professional League clubAl-Taawoun on 19 October 2016.[13] For the following season, he moved toAl-Fayha in the same league.[14] Having won once in nine games and with the club in the relegation zone, he was dismissed on 7 November 2017.[15]
On 6 March 2019, Gâlcă returned to European football withVejle Boldklub, last-placed in theDanish Superliga.[16] His team won thesecond tier in the2019–20 season, and survived on return to the top flight; he resigned in May 2021 due to disagreements with the board.[17]
Gâlcă returned to the Saudi top league on 10 December 2021, joiningAl-Hazem after the dismissal ofHélder.[18] He left the club by mutual consent on 21 February 2022.[19]
On 16 April 2023, Gâlcă was appointed manager of PolishEkstraklasa sideRadomiak Radom, replacingMariusz Lewandowski.[20] His stint started off well, with three wins and one draw in five league games. However, as the2023–24 season started and progressed, he became vocal about his disappointment in the board's decisions regarding transfer activity and lack of youth players to fulfill their mandatory playing time quota.[21] On 27 November 2023, 86 minutes before Radomiak's home game againstŚląsk Wrocław, it was announced Gâlcă left the club by mutual consent.[22]
On 17 April 2024, he was revealed as the new manager of Romanian top tier sideUniversitatea Craiova, signing on until the end of the2024–25 season, with an extension option.[23] He was sacked by the club on 27 January 2025 after a 1–0 away loss toRapid București.[24]
On 3 June 2025, Gâlcă was appointed manager of RomanianLiga I clubRapid București, signing a two-year contract.[25]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
 Romania U17 | 20 August 2013 | 1 June 2014 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 038.46 |
| Steaua București | 1 June 2014 | 1 June 2015 | 58 | 37 | 8 | 13 | 110 | 53 | +57 | 063.79 |
 Espanyol | 14 December 2015 | 1 June 2016 | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 28 | 55 | −27 | 030.77 |
 Al-Taawoun | 16 October 2016 | 20 March 2017 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 23 | 24 | −1 | 047.62 |
| Al-Fayha | 20 May 2017 | 7 November 2017 | 18 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 016.67 |
 Vejle Boldklub | 6 March 2019 | 30 June 2021 | 82 | 36 | 23 | 23 | 139 | 107 | +32 | 043.90 |
| Al-Hazem | 6 December 2021 | 21 February 2022 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 011.11 |
 Radomiak Radom | 16 April 2023 | 27 November 2023 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 29 | −3 | 036.36 |
| Universitatea Craiova | 17 April 2024 | 28 January 2025 | 35 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 55 | 37 | +18 | 045.71 |
| Rapid București | 3 June 2025 | present | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 33 | 16 | +17 | 061.11 |
| Total | 302 | 135 | 72 | 95 | 440 | 348 | +92 | 044.70 | ||
Steaua București
Espanyol
Steaua București
Vejle
Romania squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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