Ciprian Andrei Marica

Born on 2 October 1985 in Bucharest, Romania, Ciprian Andrei Marica is a Romanian footballer at present playing for Bundesliga side Schalke 04 and the National team of Romania at a forward position.

He began his professional career with Dinamo Bucureşt in 2001. He made 23 appearances in tenure of 3 years with a club scoring 4 goals which helped him gain attention. In 2004 he moved to Shakhtar Donetsk, one of the top clubs of Ukrainian. He played his best seasons so far with the club and came across through the opportunity of gaining international experience while playing in the UEFA Cup European competition.

He got a free transfer to the German club VfB Stuttgart while signing a five year deal on 23 July 2007. His first debut for VfB in Bundesliga was made against Schalke 04 on 12 August 2007. On 2011, Marica was released from his contract with Stuttgart and on the same time he promptly signed a two year contract with German club Schalke 04.

He represented the National football team of Romania in U-21 level in 2003. He stayed with the same for next three years and had scored 4 goals in 10 appearances. Moreover, he has also been the squad member of National football team of Romania in 2003 where he scored 16 goals in 53 Caps.

He had an honor of being decorated by the president of Romania on 25 March 2008 with Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III when he qualified to EURO 2008 and to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C.