Cristian Eugen Chivu, or Cristian Chivu as he is popularly known, is a Romanian footballer who currently plays for Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A. He is one of the icons of Romanian football and has represented various high profile European clubs during his stellar career. Cristian Chivu started his career with Romanian club FCM Reşiţa in 1996 and he spent two years with his local club.
In 1998, Universitatea Craiova showed interest in signing the youngster from his hometown club. In the end, Cristian Chivu moved to Universitatea Craiova in 1998 and he played 32 matches in one seasons. It was not until a year later that Cristian Chivu was on the move again, but it was to one of the biggest clubs in Europe – Ajax. The high-profile Dutch club signed him in 1999 and it once and for all changed the career of Cristian Chivu.
He spent four years with the Dutch club, which played a major role in the interest shown by major clubs across Europe in 2003. Finally, Ajax accepted the interest from Italian club Roma, who signed the youngster for a reported fee of around € 18 million. His Roma move was subject to intense speculation, but he finally completed the move in 2003.
Even though Cristian Chivu did not manage to win a lot of trophies with Roma, his performances continued to attract attention from even bigger clubs including the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, it was Italian club Inter Milan, who managed to win the race to sign Cristian Chivu from Roma. The Italian Giants reportedly paid fee of around € 16 million for the player, who was extremely versatile in defence.
So far, the move to Inter Milan has been the most successful of his career, with the Romanian managing to win a number of trophies during his time with the Milan team. So far, he has played 91 matches for the Italian team and has scored two goals.
Some of the trophies that he has managed to lift with Inter Milan include the Italian Serie A title three times, two Coppa Italia titles, one Supercoppa Italiana title, one UEFA Champions League, and one FIFA Club World Cup. This also makes him one of the best Romanian players in terms of the trophies won. Individually, Chivu has also been extremely successful, with the Romanian managing to win the likes of Dutch Golden Shoe title in 2002 and Marco van Basten Trophy in 2000.
Other major high profile trophies that he has won individually include the inclusion into the UEFA Team of the Year in 2002. He has also won the Romanian Footballer of the Year award four times in his career – 2000, 2002, 2009, 2010. Internationally, Chivu may not have any trophies with the Romanian national team, but he is regarded as one of the finest player of his generation. He has played in 75 matches for the national team and scored three goals in the process.