Cătălin Marcel Cursaru (born 29 March 1978) is a retired Romanian footballer.
Over the course of seven Divizia A seasons, Cursaru amassed totals of 167 games and 51 goals.
Club career Early career Cursaru was born on 29 March 1978 in Ploiești, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Petrolul at the age of 11. A few years later, he joined the junior center of Astra Ploiești. For the 1999–2000 season, he was sent on loan to Divizia C club Chimia Brazi at his request.
FCM Bacău On 26 January 2000, Cursaru signed for FCM Bacău, but he played no matches for more than six months because he was the subject of a dispute between Bacău and his former club Astra. Eventually, he became eligible to play and made his Divizia A debut on 7 August 2000 under coach Gheorghe Poenaru, scoring a brace in a 4–3 loss to Steaua București. He finished his first top-flight season with 15 goals, which made him the league's second-highest scorer behind only Dinamo București's Marius Niculae.
In his second season, Cursaru formed an offensive partnership with Cristian Ciocoiu and netted a career-best 17 goals to become the league's top scorer. One of these goals was a scissors kick in a 4–2 victory against Dinamo București, a goal that was selected "Play of the Day" by CNN. At the end of the season, the media reported that German side Hertha Berlin had offered $1.8 million for Cursaru, but Bacău's owner Dumitru Sechelariu asked for $300,000 more, and the negotiations collapsed. To avoid being criticized by Cursaru, Sechelariu raised his wage to $10,000 per month. However, after the transfer failure, the player never regained his form and confidence. In the next three years, he scored only 17 goals in 75 matches. In 2003, he impressed in a trial for the Norwegian side SK Brann, but once again, Sechelariu's demands made the transaction collapse.
In total, Cursaru scored 49 league goals for FCM Bacău over five seasons, eventually departing the club in July 2005 after declining a contract extension.
Late career Cursaru signed a two-year contract with Divizia A side FC Vaslui on 11 October 2005, but he failed to impress, scoring no goals during the 2005–06 season. He terminated his contract in late April. Following his unsuccessful spell at Vaslui, he signed with Progresul București in June 2006. Although he played for The Bankers for a year and a half, he was ultimately released due to a low goal-per-match rate; furthermore, the team was relegated at the end of the 2006–07 season. Afterwards, he played in the Romanian lower leagues at Aerostar Bacău, Tricolorul Breaza, Prahova Tomșani and AFC Filipeștii de Pădure, retiring in 2012.
International career Cursaru played two games for Romania B, making his debut on 22 January 2002 in a 2–1 loss against Greece in which he scored a goal. His second appearance took place on 24 January 2002 in a 2–2 (1–4, after penalty kicks) defeat to Norway. However, he never played for Romania's senior team and on 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him on a list of best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.
Club statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsBacău2000–0126152128162001–0229172231192002–03256302862003–04277102872004–0523420254Total1304910314052Vaslui2005–0611010120Total11010120Progresul2006–07262112732007–0814310153Total40521426Aerostar2008–09820082Total820082Breaza2009–10701080Total701080Career total1965614421060
Honours Prahova Tomșani Liga IV: 2010–11 Individual Divizia A top-scorer: 2001–02
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