Bucur, Gheorghe

Club

Sportul

The pupil of the Sportul club, in which he was engaged from 9 years old ^[2] , and where his first coach was Cornel Jurca ^[3] . He also began his professional career in 1998. He spent the first 3 seasons with the club in the First League of Romania , where he played 71 matches and scored 12 goals. At the end of the 2000/01 season, together with the team, he became the winner of the First League, thereby winning the right to enter the Higher League .

In his first season in the Higher League he had 29 matches and scored 12 goals (13 according to other sources), thanks to which he took the 5th place in the list of the top scorers of the season. The next draw played only 12 matches in which he scored 2 goals, and “Sportul” took the 15th place in the tournament, because of which he was forced to go to the First League. The following season, played 28 matches (the club spent 30) and scored 29 goals, which helped the team quickly return to League I, again becoming the winner of League II.

The 2004/05 season was very successful for Bucur; he played teams of 30 in 29 matches and scored 21 goals, making him the top scorer in the Romanian championship, thereby drawing the attention of the leading clubs in the country. As a result, in July 2005, he moved to the “ Polytechnic ” club from the city of Timisoara (the club later changed its name to the city of the same name), the transfer amount was 600,000 euros ^[4] .

Timisoara

The 2005/06 season was the first for Jijel in the Timis team, in that draw he played 20 matches in which he scored only 2 goals in the league and 2 meetings in which he scored 1 goal in the Romanian Cup . The following season, he had 29 meetings in the championship and scored 9 goals, thanks to which he took 14th place in the list of top scorers in the tournament. In addition, he played 4 matches and scored 2 goals in the country's Cup, which helped the team for the first time in history to reach the final of the competition, in which the “white-violet” lost to Rapha in Bucharest 0-2 ^[5] .

In the 2007/08 season, he played 28 league matches, scored 16 goals, thanks to which he shared 3rd place in the list of top scorers. In addition, he held 2 meetings and scored 1 goal in the Romanian Cup. The next season was for Bucure the most successful in his career, he played 31 meetings in the league and scored 17 goals, thanks to which for the second time in his career he shared 1st place in the list of top scorers in the championship and helped the team become Romania’s first vice-champion. In addition, he played 4 matches and scored 2 goals in the Cup, which helped the team for the second time in history to reach the final of the tournament, in which, however, Timisoara lost again, this time to the CHFR club from Cluj-Napoca with a score of 0 : 3 ^[6] . In addition, he had 2 meetings in that season and scored 1 ball in the first round of the UEFA Cup , in which, however, the “white-purple” lost to the sum of two matches to Belgrade “ Partizan ” with a total score of 2: 4.

The 2009/10 season was the last for Bukur in Timisoara, he played 16 matches in the league and scored 8 goals, thanks to which, after the 1st lap, he shared 2nd place in the list of top scorers in the rally, only 1 ball behind the first places. In addition, he played 4 meetings in which he scored 2 goals (both at the gate of Shakhtar Donetsk on the road ^[7] , thanks to these goals, Timisoara won the duel) in the Champions League qualifying rounds and 6 matches in which he scored 1 goal, in the Europa League ^[8] .

Kuban

On January 19, 2010 it was reported that Bucur could move to Kuban ^[9] , on January 26 it was announced that the transition would not take place ^[10] , but in the end, on February 2, it was reported that George had signed a three-year contract with Kuban the transfer amount was 1.5 million euros ^[11] , while the salary of Jidzhel himself will be 600,000 euros per season ^[12] .

According to the player himself, the main reason for the transition was his desire to play in a team led by Dan Petrescu , with whom Gheorghe has a good understanding from the times of Sportul ^[13] . On February 6, the transfer was officially announced ^[14] , and on February 10, Bucur arrived at the location of Kuban, which conducted a pre-season training camp in Spain, where he began the training process as part of a team ^[15] . On February 15, in a friendly match with Perm “ Amkar ”, Jijel first appeared in the “Kuban”, in the same meeting he scored his first goal for a new club ^[16] .

In official games he made his debut as part of Kuban on March 28 in the home game of the 1st round of the championship against Avant-garde Kursk , in that meeting it was not possible to score Bukura, but he was marked by assists on Rustem Kalimullin , who became the author of the team's first goal ^{[ 17]} . The first goal in official games scored on May 10 at the 89th minute of the away match of the 9th round of the championship against Omsk Irtysh , thanks to this ball Bukur Kuban was able to win with a score of 3: 2 ^[18] . On June 1, 2010, in the away match of the 13th round of the championship against Dynamo Bryansk , Jijel received his first red card in his career. Before that, even in children and youth competitions, Bucur was never removed from the field ^[19] . On June 12, Gheorghe scored his first double (2 goals in one match) for Kuban in the match of the Krasnodar 15th round, which eventually won 3-0 ^[20] . By a vote of fans of "Kuban" Bucur was recognized as the best player in June ^[21] . On October 30, after the team's morning training, Jijelu was awarded the Green Mile prize for the best football player of the Kuban season 2010 established by the organization of Kuban fans. According to Bucur, he was very happy that he won this award from fans ^[22] . In total, he played 31 matches that season, scored 9 goals and became, together with the team, the winner of the First Division of Russia .

In June 2011, just like a year earlier, Bucur was again recognized by the fans as the best player of Kuban of the month, this time in the Premier League season ^[23] .

In the national team

As part of the main national team of Romania made his debut on February 9, 2005 in a friendly match with the national team of Slovakia . On June 8 of the same year, in the qualifying tournament for the World Cup 2006 with the Armenian national team, for the first time, he marked with hammered balls, twice hitting the opponent's goal. In total, in the rally held 4 games, and another 7 matches played in the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup ^[24] .

Before moving to Kuban, Jijel always played exclusively on the edge, he said, he never moved more than 30 meters from the gates of the enemy. In Kuban, in a number of games, the coaching staff released him to the position of left midfielder , where he acted quite successfully, becoming one of the best players in the league in August according to Sport-Express . Gheorghe himself is ready to play where the coaching staff considers it necessary, since for him the team result is the most important, as well as Bukur’s attitude to the tactics of the game, he considers the best that brings the result, although he as an attacker wants to spend more time in attack and think exclusively about the opponent's goal ^[25] .

Team

"Sportul"

• The winner of the First League of Romania (2): 2000/01 , 2003/04

Timisoara

• Vice Champion of Romania (1): 2008/09
• Finalist of the Romanian Cup (2): 2006/07 , 2008/09

"Kuban"

• Winner of the First Division of Russia (1): 2010
• Finalist of the Russian Cup (1): 2014/15

Personal

"Sportul"

• The best scorer of the championship of Romania (1): 2004/05

Timisoara

• Romanian Championship Top Scorer (1): 2008/09

Jijel's father was also a footballer in the past, so when choosing a sport, George did not hesitate for a long time, and immediately decided to continue the family business. In 2009, he married, his wife's name is Michael, raising his son Alexander ^[3] .

• (English)
• Profile on the site RomanianSoccer (rum.)
• Player Profile (English) on Transfermarkt
• An article about the player and detailed statistics of performances for "Kuban" in the 2010 season
• Profile on the RPL website