Product Code Database
Cristian Marian Manea (; born 9 August 1997) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga I club Rapid București and the Romania national team.
Manea started out as a senior at Viitorul Constanța in 2014, and transferred to Apollon Limassol during that summer. He did not feature in any games for the Cypriots, being loaned out consecutively to Viitorul, Mouscron, CFR Cluj, FCSB, and again CFR Cluj. Manea signed a permanent deal with the latter in 2020, and won seven domestic honours during his stints in Cluj-Napoca. In 2024, he moved to Rapid București as a free agent.
Internationally, Manea became the youngest player to make his debut for Romania after playing in a 1–0 win over Albania in May 2014. In 2019, he represented the under-21 side in the UEFA European Championship.
Previously, Romanian media reported that Manea had been sold to Premier League team Chelsea for roughly £2.3 million, but the rumour proved to be false. In May 2018, the player himself stated that he had believed he would sign for Chelsea and that he had never physically been to Cyprus.
On 28 August 2015, Manea moved to Belgian team Royal Excel Mouscron on a season-long loan, which was extended for another year. He amassed 18 appearances in all competitions before returning to Romania on 27 June 2017, joining CFR Cluj also on loan. He was an undisputed starter during his stint, winning back-to-back national championships.
On 2 September 2019, fellow Liga I team FCSB agreed a deal to sign Manea on loan with an option to buy. He fell out of favour at the Bucharest-based club, and on 31 January 2020 returned to CFR Cluj on loan for the remainder of the season.
Manea scored his first UEFA goal on 3 August 2021, in a 1–1 home draw with Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
Manea registered his first senior goal for the country on 5 June 2018, scoring the opener in a 2–0 friendly win over Finland at the Ilie Oană Stadium in Ploiești. The following year, he featured for the under-21 side in all four matches of the 2019 UEFA European Championship, where Romania was eliminated by Germany in the semi-finals.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Viitorul Constanța | 2013–14 | Liga I | 0 |
| Viitorul Constanța (loan) | 2014–15 | Liga I | 2 |
| Mouscron (loan) | 2015–16 | Belgian Pro League | 0 |
| 2016–17 | Belgian Pro League | 0 | |
| CFR Cluj (loan) | 2017–18 | Liga I | 0 |
| 2018–19 | Liga I | 1 | |
| FCSB (loan) | 2019–20 | Liga I | 0 |
| CFR Cluj (loan) | 2019–20 | Liga I | 0 |
| CFR Cluj | 2020–21 | Liga I | 0 |
| 2021–22 | Liga I | 2 | |
| 2022–23 | Liga I | 5 | |
| 2023–24 | Liga I | 2 | |
| Rapid București | 2024–25 | Liga I | 1 |
| 2025–26 | Liga I | 0 | |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Romania | 0 |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| + List of international goals scored by Cristian Manea |
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