Cristian Munteanu

Cristian Marian Munteanu (born 10 November 1974) is a former Romanian football player who played as a goalkeeper, currently president at Liga I club Oțelul Galați.

Club career Progresul Isaccea Munteanu, nicknamed Babicu, was born on 10 November 1974 in Isaccea, Romania and began playing football at local club Progresul. When he was 11 years old, as Progresul's goalkeepers left the club to do their military service, he made his senior debut in a Divizia C match that ended with a 7–0 loss to Chimia Brăila. He played five games in the 1995 Intertoto Cup as The Sailors got past the group stage, being eliminated in the round of 16 by Heerenveen. During his five seasons spent at Farul he had a period in which he did not concede any goals for 569 consecutive minutes. He participated with The Bankers in the 1998 Intertoto Cup, playing five matches as they got past Hapoel Haifa and Iraklis in the first two rounds, being eliminated in the third by Bologna on the away goals rule. In the middle of the 1999–2000 season, Munteanu joined Oțelul Galați. The team also won the 2002–03 Cupa României, but coach Ioan Andone preferred to use Daniel Tudor in the 1–0 win over Național in the final. In the first half of the following season he was loaned to Național. Afterwards he made three appearances in the 2004–05 Champions League qualifying rounds, keeping a clean sheet in the 2–0 aggregate win over Žilina but received a red card in the second leg, then in the following round they were eliminated by Manchester United. In the middle of the season he was loaned once again to Național. He returned to Dinamo after half a year where he played for the rest of the season.

In the 2008–09 season he played for Otopeni and was again relegated.

Dinamo and Astra In July 2009, Munteanu was signed once again by Dinamo which needed a goalkeeper after Bogdan Lobonț suffered an injury. He was loaned to Astra Ploiești for the 2009–10 season, but left after the first half when coach Nicolò Napoli removed him from the squad. He returned to Dinamo for the second half of the season, making his last appearance in the Romanian first league on 22 May 2010 in a 2–0 away loss to FC Vaslui, totaling 338 matches in the competition.

International career Munteanu played for Romania's under-18 squad under the guidance of coach Gheorghe Staicu, including three games in the 1993 European Under-18 Championship. He started playing for the nation's under-21 team while he was 17 years old. In 2020 he went to work for Oțelul Galați as a general manager, then in 2024 he became the club's president.

Personal life Munteanu's father, Vasile, played for Progresul Isaccea in Divizia C.

Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 2003–04 Cupa României: 2002–03, 2003–04 Supercupa României runner-up: 2002, 2003