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List of foreign Liga I players

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of foreign players in the Liga I, which commenced play in 1909. The following players must meet both of the following two criteria:

  1. Have played at least one Liga I game. Players who were signed by Liga I clubs, but only played in lower league, cup and/or European games, or did not play in any competitive games at all, are not included.
  2. Are considered foreign, i.e., outside Romania determined by the following:
A player is considered foreign if he is not eligible to play for the national teams of Romania.

More specifically,

  • If a player has been capped on international level, the national team is used; if he has been capped by more than one country, the highest level (or the most recent) team is used. These include Romanian players with dual citizenship. Players who played for Romania but came as foreign players (such as István Avar) are also listed.
  • If a player has not been capped on international level, his country of birth is used, except those who were born abroad from Romanian parents or moved to Romania at a young age, and those who clearly indicated to have switched their nationality to another nation.

Clubs listed are those that the player has played at least one Liga I game for.

Seasons listed are those that the player has played at least one Liga I game in. Note that seasons, not calendar years, are used. For example, "1992–1995" indicates that the player has played in every season from 1992–1993 to 1994–1995, but not necessarily every calendar year from 1992 to 1995.

In bold: players that have played at least one Liga I game in the current season (2023–2024) and the clubs they've played for. They include players that have subsequently left the club, but do not include current players of a Liga I club that have not played a Liga I game in the current season.

Albania

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Roland Agalliu was the first foreign footballer that arrived in Romania after the 1989 Romanian Revolution.

Algeria

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French-Algerian Billel Omrani won five consecutive Liga I titles with CFR Cluj, also being named the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year in 2019.

Angola

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Argentina

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Sebastián Dubarbier won two Liga I titles with CFR Cluj and was the first winner of the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year award.
Pablo Brandán won the Liga I title with Unirea Urziceni and Viitorul Constanța, also being named the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year in 2009.
Emmanuel Culio won six Liga I titles with CFR Cluj.
Gabriel Viglianti won the Liga I title with Oțelul Galați.

Armenia

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Australia

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Joshua Rose is the Australian player with the most games played in Liga I, 113 and they are all for FC Universitatea Craiova.

Austria

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Azerbaijan

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Belarus

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Belgium

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Benin

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Bolivia

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Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Branko Grahovac won the Liga I title with Oțelul Galați.
International Mateo Sušić won three consecutive Liga I titles with CFR Cluj.
International Daniel Graovac won the Liga I title with CFR Cluj.

Brazil

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Eric de Oliveira won twice the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year award.
Juliano Spadacio scored 25 goals in 107 Liga I games for Rapid București and Astra Ploiești.
Júnior Morais played in 281 Liga I matches, winning the title with Astra Giurgiu.
During his period spent at Astra, William de Amorim managed to win the Liga I title.
Rafael Bastos won the Liga I title with CFR Cluj.
Adaílton ended his European career with a two-year spell at FC Vaslui scoring 17 goals in 59 Liga I appearances.
Yuri Matias won the Liga I title with CFR Cluj.

Bulgaria

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Radoslav Dimitrov appeared in 216 Liga I games for FC Botoșani, CS Universitatea Craiova and Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe.
Zhivko Milanov appeared in 104 Liga I games for FC Vaslui.
Plamen Iliev played 133 Liga I matches for five teams.

Burkina Faso

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Burundi

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Cameroon

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Patrick Ekeng died while playing for Dinamo București in a Liga I game against Viitorul Constanța.
Joyskim Dawa won the Liga I title with FCSB.

Canada

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Cape Verde

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Fernando Varela has won two Liga I titles with Steaua București and once the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year award.

Central African Republic

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Chad

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Chile

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Colombia

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Dayro Moreno and Juan Toja played together at Steaua București.

Comoros

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Congo

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Congo DR

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Jeremy Bokila had a prolific period in his only season spent at Petrolul Ploiești scoring 16 goals in 32 games.

Costa Rica

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Croatia

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With 22 goals scored for Rapid București in the 2022–23 Liga I season, Marko Dugandžić earned the top-goalscorer of the season award.
Damjan Đoković played for CFR Cluj in two different periods, winning four Liga I titles, also winning another one with FCSB.
Gabriel Debeljuh won two Liga I titles with CFR Cluj.

Cuba

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Curaçao

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Cyprus

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Czech Republic

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Denmark

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Djibouti

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Egypt

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El Salvador

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England

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Equatorial Guinea

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Estonia

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Faroe Islands

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Finland

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France

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Nicolas Godemèche with the 2012 Liga I trophy.
Cyril Théréau scored 10 goals for Steaua București in his only season in Liga I.

French Guiana

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Gabon

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Gambia

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Georgia

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Germany

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Ghana

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Nana Boateng won the Liga I title with CFR Cluj.

Greece

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Pantelis Kapetanos has won the Liga I title with CFR Cluj and Steaua București having a total of 48 goals scored in the league.

Guadeloupe

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Guatemala

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Guinea

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Guinea-Bissau

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Guyana

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Haiti

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Honduras

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Hong Kong

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Hungary

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The member of Hungary's Mighty Magyars, Gyula Lóránt (left) and one of the Romanian-Hungarians who represented both Romania and Hungary at International level, József Pecsovszky (right) managed to win the Liga I title in their single season spent together at UTA Arad.

Iceland

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Iraq

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Ireland

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Israel

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Italy

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Andrea Compagno was named the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year in 2022.
Federico Piovaccari scored 10 goals and won the Liga I title in his single season spent at Steaua București.

Ivory Coast

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CFR Cluj was Lacina Traoré's first European club.

Jamaica

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Japan

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Jordan

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Kenya

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Kosovo

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Latvia

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Lebanon

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Liberia

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Lithuania

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Giedrius Arlauskis won seven Liga I titles with three different teams: one with each of Unirea Urziceni and Steaua București and five with CFR Cluj.

Luxembourg

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Madagascar

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Malawi

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Malaysia

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Mali

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Martinique

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Mauritania

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Mauritius

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Mexico

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Moldova

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Eugeniu Cebotaru spent seven seasons in Liga I at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Academica Clinceni and Petrolul Ploiești, playing a total 167 games in which he scored 17 goals.

Montenegro

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Vladimir Božović spent five years at Rapid București, playing in 131 Liga I games.

Morocco

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Mozambique

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Netherlands

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New Zealand

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Nigeria

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Kehinde Fatai started his senior career playing in Romania for Farul Constanța, later playing for Astra Giurgiu and Argeș Pitești, scoring a total of 45 goals in Liga I.

North Macedonia

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Norway

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Panama

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Paraguay

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Peru

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Philippines

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Poland

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Łukasz Szukała won three consecutive Liga I titles with Steaua București and was the Liga I Foreign Player of the Year in 2014.

Portugal

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Mário Camora won six Liga I titles with CFR Cluj and he also gained Romanian citizenship, representing Romania’s national team internationally.
Ricardo Cadú won a hat-trick of Liga I titles with CFR Cluj and was the first foreign player that played in over 200 Liga I games.
Tony has won two Liga I titles with CFR Cluj.
International goalkeeper Beto won the Liga I title in his only season spent at CFR Cluj.
Filipe Teixeira played for five different Liga I clubs winning the title with Astra Giurgiu.
Geraldo Alves spent the last years of his career playing for three teams in Liga I, winning the title with Astra Giurgiu.
Rui Duarte appeared in over 100 Liga I matches for FC Brașov and Rapid București.

Russia

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Rwanda

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Saint Lucia

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Saudi Arabia

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Scotland

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Senegal

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Serbia

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Milan Perendija won the Liga I title with Oțelul Galați.

Sierra Leone

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Slovakia

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International goalkeeper Dušan Kuciak had a three-year spell in Liga I at FC Vaslui.

Slovenia

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Miha Mevlja made his International debut for Slovenia during his spell at Dinamo București.

South Africa

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South Korea

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Spain

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The twin Oriol brothers Joan (left) and Eduard (right) played together in their short spell at Rapid București.
Pablo de Lucas played in over 100 Liga I matches for four different teams.

Sudan

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Suriname

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Sweden

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Switzerland

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Syria

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Tajikistan

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Togo

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Tunisia

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Turkey

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Uganda

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Ukraine

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United States

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Uruguay

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World Cup semi-finalist and Copa América winner Álvaro Pereira spent his first season in Europe at CFR Cluj.

Venezuela

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Zambia

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Zimbabwe

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Notes

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  1. ^
    Born in Albania
  2. ^
    Born in Angola
  3. ^
    Born in Australia
  4. ^
    Born in Austria
  5. ^
    Born in Austria (then part of Austria-Hungary)
  6. ^
    Born in Belarus (then part of the Soviet Union)
  7. ^
    Born in Belgium
  8. ^
  9. ^
    Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of SFR Yugoslavia)
  10. ^
    Born in Brazil
  11. ^
    Born in Cameroon
  12. ^
    Born in Canada
  13. ^
    Born in Cape Verde
  14. ^
    Born in Croatia
  15. ^
    Born in Croatia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia)
  16. ^
  17. ^
    Born in England
  18. ^
    Born in France
  19. ^
    Born in Germany
  20. ^
    Born in Ghana
  21. ^
    Born in Greece
  22. ^
  23. ^
    Born in Italy
  24. ^
    Born in Ivory Coast
  25. ^
    Born in Kosovo (then part of SFR Yugoslavia)
  26. ^
    Born in Kosovo (then part of FR Yugoslavia)
  27. ^
    Born in Luxembourg
  28. ^
    Born in Netherlands
  29. ^
    Born in Nigeria
  30. ^
    Born in Norway
  31. ^
    Born in Paraguay
  32. ^
    Born in Poland
  33. ^
    Born in Portugal
  34. ^
  35. ^
    Born in the Réunion
  36. ^
    Born in Romania
  37. ^
    Born in Romania (then part of Austria-Hungary)
  38. ^
    Born in Serbia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia)
  39. ^
    Born in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia)
  40. ^
    Born in Slovakia (then part of First Czechoslovak Republic)
  41. ^
    Born in South Africa
  42. ^
    Born in Spain
  43. ^
    Born in Sweden
  44. ^
    Born in Switzerland
  45. ^
    Born in Turkey
  46. ^
    Born in the Uganda
  47. ^
    Born in the USA
  48. ^
    Born in West Germany (now part of Germany)
  49. ^
  50. ^
  51. ^
  52. ^
  53. ^
  54. ^
  55. ^
    Capped for the Belgium national under-20 football team
  56. ^
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  86. ^
  87. ^
  88. ^
  89. ^
  90. ^
  91. ^
  92. ^
    Capped for the Norway national under-15 football team
  93. ^
    Capped for the Norway national under-16 football team
  94. ^
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