Cristian Eugen Chivu (; born 26 October 1980) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Inter Milan's under-19 side. A defender, he began his career with hometown club CSM Reșița before moving to FC Universitatea Craiova in 1998, leaving Romania to join Dutch club Ajax a season later. His performances as the captain of Ajax inspired an €18 million transfer to Roma in 2003. Chivu won the Coppa Italia in his last of four seasons in Rome before a transfer to Inter Milan, where he spent the rest of his career before retiring in 2014. After recovering from a fractured skull, Chivu wore a distinctive protective headgear, similar to Petr Čech's, from 2010 onwards. His honours at Inter included a treble of the Italian league, domestic cup, and the UEFA Champions League in 2010. Chivu earned 75 international caps for Romania between 1999 and 2010, and was part of the squads for UEFA European Championships in 2000 and 2008. After retiring, he became a football pundit for Italian television stations Sky Sport and Fox Sports. He is also a technical observer for UEFA. Club career Early career Chivu's first professional club was CSM Reșița. After moving to FC Universitatea Craiova, his reputation began to rise and his performances sparked interest from some larger clubs outside of Romania. Dutch club Ajax was particularly impressed with Chivu and signed him in 1999. Ajax At Ajax, Chivu developed a reputation as a reliable fullback and a free-kick specialist. Then-manager Ronald Koeman appointed him as captain of the club. With Chivu as captain, Ajax dominated the Dutch Eredivisie with an exciting young squad. Playing alongside Chivu were future stars such as Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Johnny Heitinga, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Maxwell. Chivu played a pivotal role for Ajax in their UEFA Champions League run in the 2002–03 season, when they came to within a minute of the semi-finals. That season, Chivu was in a quintet of Ajax players – himself, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Maxwell, Wesley Sneijder and Andy van der Meyde – who all went on to later join Inter Milan. Roma In 2003, Roma expressed their interest in signing Chivu. At the time, Roma had an enormous debt and there were questions raised over Roma's ability to pay any proposed fees. Seeking to silence the increasing doubt over their financial situation, Roma sought a