Ioan Ciprian Deac (; born 16 February 1986) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a winger or an attacking midfielder, currently the vice-president of Liga I club CFR Cluj.
After beginning his career at Unirea Dej, Deac spent most of his career at CFR Cluj, where he amassed over 390 Liga I matches and won fourteen domestic honours. He also had loan spells at Oțelul Galați and Rapid București in Romania, while abroad he represented Schalke 04 in Germany and Aktobe and Tobol in Kazakhstan.
Widely regarded as one of the most successful players in the history of the Romanian championship, Deac ranks second on the all-time list of league titles won, alongside Giedrius Arlauskis, Adrian Bumbescu, Mircea Lucescu, Tudorel Stoica, and Dumitru Stângaciu, with seven titles each.
At international level, Deac made his senior debut for Romania in March 2010, in a 0–2 friendly defeat to Israel. He earned 26 caps and scored one goal before retiring in 2020.
Club career
Early career / Unirea Dej Deac played as a youngster for Gloria Bistrița, where he was initially deployed as a striker.
He made his senior debut with Unirea Dej, at the time a second division team. He spent there two seasons and was already scouted by CFR Cluj, however the club who insisted more was Universitatea Cluj who took him for a trial in the camp from Hungary. He managed to impress, however after spending near two months with "U" Cluj the transfer failed due money problems.
CFR Cluj
Deac was finally signed by CFR Cluj during the 2005–06 season, and made his Liga I debut on 6 August 2006 against Unirea Urziceni in a 4–0 victory. During the 2006–07 season led by coach Cristiano Bergodi, he only made eleven appearances for them finishing third place in the Championship. The highlight of his career began in 2007–08 the team's new coach, was Ioan Andone, formerly of Dinamo București who won both the Championship and the Cup.
Deac was loaned out to Oțelul Galați during the 2008 half-season where he made fifteen appearances scoring two goals.
Because of his good performances at Oțelul, Deac was preserved in the CFR Cluj roster for the 2008–09 season. In the first part of the season he made nine appearances. The lack of playing time lead him to consider leaving the club. But with the upcoming new coach Dušan Uhrin, Jr., Deac gave up this plan, receiving assurances that he would be used more. In the 2009–10 season, the team managed to win the league title for the second time in its history, the coach being Andrea Mandorlini who said "Deac has grown into an incredible manner, quantitatively and qualitatively". In the 2010 Super Cup match Deac helped the team prevent a defeat, pushing the game into the penalty shootout. After the match, he was chosen as Man of the match.
Schalke 04 On 27 August 2010, Deac signed for the German club Schalke 04 on a three-year contract. The reported transfer fee was €3 million. He made his debut for Die Königsblauen on 14 September, in a Champions League game against Olympique Lyonnais. He only played in the first half, and had a poor performance. He had a very sporadic season in Germany, only appearing in six games, and not putting in very convincing performances.
In the summer of 2011, Deac was loaned to Liga I team, Rapid București for the 2011–12 campaign. Schalke hoped he would regain his form that brought him to the international level.
On 20 December, he scored two goals against FC Vaslui. Although he was sent off, his team won the game with a 3–2 victory, with Nicolae Grigore scoring the winning goal in extratime. On 7 April 2012, Deac scored a goal in the 5–0 thrashing of CFR Cluj.
Return to CFR Cluj On 30 May 2012, Deac returned to CFR Cluj, where he signed a contract for three years.
Kazakhstan On 23 June 2015, Deac signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Aktobe. Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Deac was transfer listed by Aktobe.
Third spell at CFR Cluj Deac once again returned to CFR Cluj in January 2017. He played 15 matches and netted six goals in the remainder of the season, his good display drawing interest from fellow league team FC Steaua București.
He nevertheless chose to stay with the Alb-vișinii and was offered the number 10 shirt ahead of the 2017–18 campaign. He recorded his first goal of the season in a 1–0 away win over Concordia Chiajna on 17 September 2017. Deac contributed with five goals and eleven assists, with the side claiming the fourth national championship in its history.
International career Deac made his debut for the Romania under-21 team on 1 June 2007, in a 1–1 draw against France. He was selected by manager Victor Pițurcă for Romania's preliminary squad to play at the UEFA Euro 2008, but eventually missed out on the final list. On 5 March 2010, Deac finally earned his first cap for the seniors in a 0–2 friendly match loss to Israel in Timișoara.
In August 2017, following a six-year absence, he was called up by Christoph Daum for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Armenia and Montenegro. Deac scored his first goal for the national team in a 1–1 draw with Denmark, on 8 October 2017.
Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsUnirea Dej2004–05Divizia B400000—402005–06Divizia B2322000—252Total2722000—292CFR Cluj2006–07Liga I1100000—1102007–08Liga I1001010—1202008–09Liga I1822020—2222009–10Liga I2423060—3322010–11Liga I4000001050Total674609010834Oțelul Galați (loan)2007–08Liga I1520000—152Schalke 042010–11Bundesliga200030—50Rapid București (loan)2011–12Liga I3095271—4212CFR Cluj2012–13Liga I1834010102432013–14Liga I28610——2962014–15Liga I1821040—232Total64116050107611Aktobe2015Kazakhstan Premier League1511020—181Tobol2016Kazakhstan Premier League3121000—322CFR Cluj2016–17Liga I1461000001562017–18Liga I3451000003552018–19Liga I2644020103342019–20Liga I2514001641042182020–21Liga I341300911044142021–22Liga I3910101421055122022–23Liga I31620162105082023–24Liga I3334000—3732024–25Liga I1933050—2732025–26Liga I90201010130Total264641806296035173Career total51594392891080651107
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsRomania201090201120201721201852201951202030Total264
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Deac goal. + List of international goals scored by Ciprian Deac No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition 1 8 October 2017 Telia Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark 12 1–1 1–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 31 May 2018 Sportzentrum Graz-Weinzödl, Graz, Austria 15 2–2 3–2 Friendly 3 5 June 2018 Stadionul Ilie Oană, Ploiești, Romania 16 2–0 2–0 Friendly 4 26 March 2019 Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu, Cluj, Romania 19 1–0 4–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
Honours CFR Cluj Liga I: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 Cupa României: 2008–09, 2009–10;, 2024–25 runner-up: 2012–13 Supercupa României: 2009, 2010, 2018, 2020; runner-up: 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025
Schalke 04 DFB-Pokal: 2010–11
Rapid București Cupa României runner-up: 2011–12
Individual Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year runner-up: 2020; third place: 2022 Liga I Team of the Season: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 Liga I Most Assists: 2022–23, 2023–24 Digi Sport Liga I Player of the Month: May 2014,Jucatorul lunii mai; Digisport.ro, 23 May 2014 March 2017
References
External links