Cristian Șchiopu

Cristian Șchiopu (born 19 January 1974) is a Romanian former football player who played as a central back for Foresta Fălticeni, Mureșul Toplița and Farul Constanța.

Playing career Șchiopu was born on 19 January 1974 in Fălticeni, Romania and began playing football in 1992 at local club Foresta in Divizia B. Two years later the team was relegated to Divizia C, but he stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back after one season. In 1999, Foresta was relegated, but Șchiopu helped it gain promotion back after one year. However, at the end of the season, the team was relegated once again. He reached the 2005 Cupa României final, where coach Petre Grigoraș used him the entire match in the 1–0 loss to Dinamo București. In 2006 he started to play in European competitions, appearing in both legs of the 4–2 loss on aggregate to Auxerre in the third round of the Intertoto Cup. In the 2007–08 season, Șchiopu scored his last first league goals from penalty kicks in two 1–0 wins over Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț and Gloria Bistrița. In the following season, on 25 October 2008, he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 away loss to Unirea Urziceni, totaling 272 matches with eight goals in the competition. Șchiopu wanted to play one more season for Farul in the second league, to help it get promoted back to the first league. He also coached seniors, being Marin Barbu's assistant at Callatis Mangalia in 2011. Subsequently, after Barbu was dismissed, Șchiopu was head coach for a while. In 2016 together with another coach, Cătălin Agafiței, he set up the Constanța Marina 2015 Sports Association, where children were trained in football.

Honours Foresta Suceava Divizia B: 1996–97, 1999–00 Divizia C: 1994–95 Farul Constanța Cupa României runner-up: 2004–05