Gabriel Tamaș
Gabriel Sebastian Tamaș (born 9 November 1983) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga I club FC Voluntari.

He started out as a senior at FC Brașov in the 1998–99 season, and has since represented sixteen other teams throughout his career. In addition to his native Romania, he has played in Turkey, Russia, Spain, France, England and Israel, respectively. With Bucharest rivals Dinamo București and FCSB, Tamaș won a total of seven domestic trophies. His honours also include the Israel State Cup and the Israeli Super Cup with Hapoel Haifa.

A Romanian international for fifteen years, he has earned 67 caps for the nation and was chosen in the squad for UEFA Euro 2008.

Club career
Tamaș started his career in lower divisions. In the summer of 2002 he transferred to Dinamo București who he spent a year with before earning a move to Turkish team Galatasaray where he spent a season-and-a-half before being linked with a move to the Russian Premier League.

Tamaș secured a move to Spartak Moscow in January 2004, but returned to Dinamo București in summer 2004 on a season-and-a-half loan, returning to Spartak in January 2006. Tamaș again moved out on loan to Celta de Vigo of Spain for the duration of the 2006–07 season.

He joined AJ Auxerre in France at the start of the 2007–08 season. After one year there he again joined Dinamo București, this time on a season-long loan. On 12 July 2009, he extended his loan for another season, and was also elected captain  by his teammates.

His loan to Dinamo was cut short in December 2009, and on 1 January 2010, Tamaș signed for West Bromwich Albion on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 8 January in a 1–3 loss to Nottingham Forest. He scored his first goal for the Football League Championship club against Reading on 27 March 2010. On 19 May 2010, Tamaș signed permanently at The Hawthorns for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract, plus a further year's option in the club's favour. On 11 September 2011, in a match against Norwich City, he elbowed James Vaughan in the face inside his own penalty area. The referee gave no penalty and let the play continue, but he was given a three-match ban for violent conduct after the match. He ended his contract with WBA by mutual consent, in September 2013.

On 17 January 2014, he returned to England by signing for Doncaster Rovers. Upon the expiry of his contract, Tamaș signed for Watford on a one-year contract effective from 1 July.

After suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in September 2014, Tamaș cancelled his contract with Watford in January 2015.
On 15 January 2015, he signed a two-year contract with FCSB, the great historic rival of his former club Dinamo București.

On 26 August 2015, Tamaș joined Championship side Cardiff City on a one-year deal, with a further option to a second year. During the first half of the season, Tamaș only appeared for the development squad and wasn't involved in the first team at all from November, resulting in frustration and claiming he wanted to leave Welsh capital. He eventually made his first team debut in a FA Cup loss to Shrewsbury Town on 10 January. On 1 February 2016, his contract was terminated by mutual agreement. Tamas then returned to FCSB, albeit on a lower wage. His deal at FCSB was offered by the club's owner on the condition that Tamas addressed his issues with alcohol, and go to church every Sunday, which led some fans to make fun, saying that he only goes to church to drink the wine from communion.

International career
Tamaș played 67 matches and scored 3 goals for Romania, making his debut under coach Anghel Iordănescu on 12 February 2003, when he came as a substitute and replaced Cosmin Contra in the 90+1 minute of a friendly match, which ended with a 2–1 victory against Slovakia. After playing five games at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, coach Victor Pițurcă chose Tamaș as a starter in all ten matches in which he scored two goals, one against Slovenia in a 2–1 away victory and one against Albania in a 6–1 home victory at the successful Euro 2008 qualifiers, where Romania finished first in Group G. He played in all three matches at the Euro 2008 final tournament, as Romania left the competition in the group stage after two draws with France and Italy and a loss against Netherlands. Tamaș played four games at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and he scored his last goal for the national team in friendly which ended a 3–2 away loss against Ukraine. In the following years, Tamaș played eight games at the Euro 2012 qualifiers, four at the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and two at the Euro 2016 qualifiers. His last two games for the national team were in 2018, being called up by coach and former teammate Cosmin Contra for the 2018–19 Nations League, playing in a 2–1 away victory against Lithuania and in a 0–0 against Serbia in which he received a red card in the 44th minute of the game.

On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, for his performance in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group G, where Romania managed to qualify to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.

Controversy
In October 2003, Tamaș was involved in a fight in a club from Brașov, after which the man he fought with needed hospitalization and a operation at the face. In November 2004, together with a group of friends he devastated a restaurant from Poiana Brașov, after being denied entrance. In November 2005, after playing for Dinamo București in a 1–1 against Jiul Petroșani, Tamaș went to party in a club from Brașov, where he caused a scandal, being close to start a fight. On 14 February 2009, he was sent to Dinamo București's reserve team due to an incident involving drinking alcohol and causing a scandal in the team's cantonment from Turkey.

In July 2010, Tamaș got drunk and started a fight with the waiters from his brother's wedding. In December 2010, Tamaș beaten his then-girlfriend in a club from Bucharest, accusing her of infidelity.

In June 2011 after partying until dawn in a club from Poiana Brașov, he overslept the next day and missed the plane for the national's team tournament in South America. On 11 August 2011, Tamaș and his teammate Adrian Mutu were excluded from the Romanian national team. They were found drinking at a bar on the night of 10 August, while being in a cantonment for the Romanian team who was preparing for a friendly match against San Marino. After only three games, their suspension was lifted.

In May 2013, after partying in a club from Bucharest, Tamaș tried to enter a block of flats for shelter. The cleaning lady denied him access, so he broke the door, climbed the stairs until the first floor and slept on the hall. The police came and took him to the police station where he made a scandal by yelling and insulting the police officers. He received an eight months suspended sentence conviction for these acts.

In October 2013 Tamaș was drinking in a bar from Bucharest with national team colleague Daniel Pancu, later in that night, they started a fight against each other.

On 9 October 2013, Tamaș signed a one-year contract with Romanian Liga I club CFR Cluj but the club terminated his contract one week later on 16 October, following incidents caused by him and teammate Florin Costea in a local pub. On the 2014 New Year's Eve, he got into a fight in the lobby of a restaurant from Brașov.

During his first spell at FCSB, he was dismissed because one night he drank a lot with a few friends and he was not able to come the following day to a training session. FCSB's manager, Mirel Rădoi, said that Tamaș lied to him by saying that his phone alarm did not work.

On 23 March 2019, during his period spent in Israel at Hapoel Haifa Tamaș was arrested by the police after driving his car at 205 km/h, having a 0.66 mg of alcohol per liter of breathing air. He spent a week in jail, after which he spent a month in house arrest and was convicted with two months of community service.

Career statistics

Club
Statistics accurate as of match played 27 February 2022

International stats

International goals

Honours

Club
Dinamo București
Cupa României: 2002–03, 2004–05
Supercupa României: 2005
FCSB
Liga I: 2014–15
Cupa României: 2014–15
Cupa Ligii: 2014–15, 2015–16
Hapoel Haifa
Israel State Cup: 2017–18
Israeli Super Cup: 2018

Individual
Romanian Defender of the Year: 2016

References

External links

1983 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Brașov
Romanian footballers
Association football defenders
FC Brașov (1936) players
FC Dinamo București players
Galatasaray S.K. footballers
FC Spartak Moscow players
RC Celta de Vigo players
AJ Auxerre players
West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
CFR Cluj players
Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
Watford F.C. players
FC Steaua București players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Hapoel Haifa F.C. players
FC Astra Giurgiu players
FC Universitatea Cluj players
Liga I players
Liga II players
Süper Lig players
Russian Premier League players
La Liga players
Ligue 1 players
Israeli Premier League players
English Football League players
Premier League players
Romania youth international footballers
Romania under-21 international footballers
Romania international footballers
UEFA Euro 2008 players
Romanian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in Russia
Expatriate footballers in France
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Israel
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Israel