Only one Romanian football team in the
\nongoing competition season, early into 2023, has advanced to the European Cups’
\nupcoming stages. In the autumn of 2022, CFR Cluj qualified to the playoffs as
\npart of the European Conference League’s round of 16, ranking 2nd in
\nthe competition’s Group G. In Rome last week, holders CFR competed for a place
\nin this year’s round of 16. CFR Cluj sustained a defeat by the narrowest of
\nmargins in their away game against Lazio, ni-1. In two days’ time, the match deciding
\nthe qualification in the League’s round of 16 will be played in Cluj. However,
\nwe made mention of the match in Rome since it provided a record: CFR’s captain,
\nMario Camora, is the footballer boasting most caps in the European Cups for a
\nRomanian squad. For this very reason, Radio Romania International has
\ndesignated CFR’s Portuguese-born left-back Mario Camora the Athlete of the week.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Up until the ongoing season, Marius Lacatus
\nwas the footballer with most caps in European cups. We recall Marius Lacatus was
\none of the stars of Steaua Bucharest, a team that saw its heyday in the 20th
\ncentury’s 1980s. Over 1984 and 1999, Lacatus played 72 matches in the European Champions
\nCup, The Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Cup. With Steaua Bucharest, in 1986 Lac\u0103tus won
\nthe European Champions Cup, an unparalleled performance in Romanian
\nfootball. This past Thursday in Rome, Mario Camora played his 73rd
\nmatch in European competitions. Camora’s first such game was played on August 1st,
\n2012, when CFR Cluj defeated Slovan Liberec 1-nil, in a fixture counting
\ntowards the Champions League’s 3rd preliminary round. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mario Camora was born
\non September 21, 1986, in Portugal. He made his debut as an amateur footballer,
\nthen in 2006, he turned pro, being signed up by second-tier team Beira-Mar. Mario
\narrived in Romania in 2011, playing for CFR Cluj. Seven years later, on April
\n17, 2018, he broke the caps record for CFR, until
\nthen held by another Portuguese, Cad\u00fa. In 2020, Mario Camora was granted
\nRomanian citizenship. Also in 2020, on October 8, he made his debut with the
\nnational team, setting a new record. Being 37 years and 17 days old, Mario
\nCamora became Romanian national squad’s oldest first-time footballer. (EN)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Football player Mario Camora<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":118169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[37016,31316,41948,33936,33799],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-123263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-caps","tag-championship","tag-defender","tag-league","tag-record"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n