The Athlete of the Week

Football player Adrian Şut.

Florin Orban, 28.01.2025, 13:45

Romanian football champions FCSB are having an excellent run in the Europa League. Out of the seven matches played so far in the competition’s main group, the Bucharest side have four wins, two draws and one defeat. Ahead of their final match in this stage of the competition, FCSB are now in 8^th place. If they maintain this position after their final match, which they will be playing on Thursday at home against Manchester United, the Romanian champions will qualify straight for the round of last 16.

In their latest match in European competitions, FCSB defeated the champions of Azerbaijan, Qarabağ, 3-2. Without their captain Darius Olaru, who missed the match due to an injury, midfielder Adrian Şut took over the captain badge, doing an excellent job. He also scored two of his team’s goals, playing a decisive contribution to their win, which is why Radio Romania International has chosen his the athlete of the week this week.

In Baku, the Azeri side opened the scoreline 57 seconds into the match. 7 minutes later, following a corner kick and a cross pass from Florin Tănase, Adrian Şut scored a header to bring his team to 1-all. Both sides went on to score one more goal by half-time. In the second half, 73 minutes into the match, following another corner kick from Florin Tănase, Şut scored yet another header to win FCSB the match.

Adrian Şut was born on 30^th April 1999 in Cociuba Mare, in Bihor county, in the west. He made his debut as a junior with the local side and then joined Liberty Salonta, also from Bihor. He then got transferred to ASA Târgu Mureş, where, aged 17, he made his First League match debut against Viitorul Constanţa. He joined FCSB in 2019, who lent him, in his first season under contract, to Academica Clinceni. He first played for FCSB in 2020, in a  Europa League qualifying match against Slovan Liberec, which FCSB lost. Şut made his national side debut on 22 March 2024, in a friendly against Northern Ireland, replacing Răzvan Marin. He was then part of the team that represented Romania at the European Championship hosted by Germany, but didn’t get to actually play.