Dinamo București Marica, nicknamed "The
Samurai", was born on 2 October 1985 in
Bucharest, Romania. He began playing junior-level football at age 11 in 1996 at local club
Dinamo under coach
Emil Ursu. At age 16, he made his
Divizia A debut on 4 May 2002 when coaches
Cornel Dinu and
Marin Ion sent him in the 84th minute to replace
Claudiu Drăgan in a 1–0 loss to
Național București. Marica made another appearance before the end of the
season as the team won the title. In the last round of the
following season, he scored his first league goal in a 3–1 away loss to
Universitatea Craiova. Dinamo won the
2002–03 Cupa României, but Marica was not played by coach
Ioan Andone in the 2–0 win over
Oțelul Galați in the
final. He helped the club eliminate
Shakhtar Donetsk in the
2003–04 UEFA Cup, scoring once against them. In the first half of that
season, Marica made 10 league appearances and scored three goals.
Shakhtar Donetsk Marica joined Shakhtar Donetsk for a
$1.8 million fee paid to Dinamo, where he became teammates with fellow Romanians
Flavius Stoican,
Daniel Florea,
Cosmin Bărcăuan and
Răzvan Raț. He scored his first goal in the competition on 22 May in a 5–0 home victory against
Karpaty Lviv. Marica started the
following season by playing in the
Champions League qualifying rounds, scoring two goals against
Pyunik and one against
Club Brugge, as his side eliminated those teams and reached the
group stage. There, he made five appearances without scoring. He finished the season by winning the league championship, contributing with two goals netted in 16 matches. Afterwards, he helped the team get past the
2005–06 UEFA Cup group stage, scoring a goal in a 2–0 victory against
VfB Stuttgart. The campaign ended in the round of 32 where they lost 3–2 on aggregate to
Lille with Marica netting one of his side's goals. Eventually they faced each other in a play-off match in which Marica opened the scoring in the 2–1 win that helped them secure the title. He also scored a brace in the second leg of the
Champions League third qualifying round in the 4–2 aggregate victory over
Legia Warsaw. Marica continued his scoring in the competition's
group stage, finding the net once in a 2–2 draw against
Olympiacos and netting the only goal of a 1–0 win over
AS Roma with a header. Subsequently,
The Miners continued their European campaign in the
UEFA Cup, reaching the round of 16 where they were defeated by title holders and eventual winners,
Sevilla. In the first round of the
2007–08 season, Marica made his last Vyshcha Liha appearance in a 1–1 derby draw against Dynamo Kiev. Afterwards, he joined VfB Stuttgart, but Shakhtar succeeded in winning
The Double at the end of the season without him. Marica signed a five-year contract and Stuttgart's sporting director
Horst Heldt said: "Ciprian is a very flexible forward, and a permanent thorn in the side of any opposition defense, who fits outstandingly into our team. He wanted to join us desperately." He made his
Bundesliga debut under coach
Armin Veh on 12 August 2007, playing as a starter in a 2–2 home draw against
Schalke 04. Until the end of the
season, he scored two league goals in victories over
Eintracht Frankfurt and
VfL Wolfsburg. It was a spectacular goal, as Marica was in the penalty area with an opponent behind him and with his back to the goal when he received a pass from
Ludovic Magnin and flicked the ball with his calf to score. Marica started the
following season by scoring in the first round in a 3–1 away victory against
Borussia Mönchengladbach. Until season's end, he found the net three more times in victories over
Karlsruher SC, Mönchengladbach once again and Schalke 04. Subsequently,
The Reds continued their European campaign in the
UEFA Cup —with Marica scoring two goals in the group stage in a draw against
Sampdoria and a win over
Standard Liège— the club reaching the round of 32 where they were defeated by
Zenit Saint Petersburg. In the
2009–10 season, Marica scored a career-best 10 league goals. In the first leg of the
Champions League play-off, he earned a penalty for his side which was scored by
Timo Gebhart in the eventual 2–0 aggregate success over
Politehnica Timișoara. Thus they reached the
group stage where he scored once in a 3–1 victory against
Unirea Urziceni. Stuttgart advanced to the round of 16 where Marica played in both legs of the 5–1 aggregate loss to
Barcelona. In his
last season at VfB, he scored three league goals in wins over Borussia Mönchengladbach and
Werder Bremen, but also in a loss to
Hamburg. Marica also netted three goals in the
Europa League group stage: one in each of the two victories against
Getafe and one in a 5–1 success over
Odense to help his side reach the round of 32. However, in February 2011, following an interview for the
Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper in which he criticized coach
Bruno Labbadia, Marica was excluded from Stuttgart's squad. On 12 July 2011, Marica was released from his contract at Stuttgart.
Schalke 04 On 28 July 2011, Marica signed a two-year contract with German club
Schalke 04, worth
€5 million. He chose to remain in Germany, despite having offers from
Premier League club
Blackburn Rovers, and two French clubs,
Marseille and
Paris Saint-Germain. He made his Bundesliga debut for Schalke on 13 August 2011 when coach
Ralf Rangnick sent him in the 82nd minute to replace
Raúl in a 5–1 home win over
1. FC Köln. Marica scored his first two goals in the 4–1 victory against the same opponent in the second half of the
season. He also netted a goal in a 3–0 success over
Maccabi Haifa in the
2011–12 Europa League group stage. The team reached the quarter-finals of the competition where they were defeated 6–4 on aggregate by
Athletic Bilbao. Marica scored his first goal in the
2012–13 season on 8 December 2012 in a 3–1 away loss to his former team, VfB Stuttgart. Until the end of the season, he would score two more goals in victories against
Hannover 96 and
Werder Bremen. He also made three appearances in the
Champions League group stage. Marica played his last Bundesliga match on 20 April 2013 in a 1–0 away loss to
Eintracht Frankfurt, totaling 124 matches with 24 goals in the competition. He made his league debut on 6 October, as coach
Luis García sent him in the 69th minute to replace
Adrián Colunga in a 3–1 win against
Betis Sevilla. On 31 October, Marica scored his first goal in a 2–0
away victory over
Villarreal. In May 2014, during the last round of the season, he scored twice in a 2–1 win against
Rayo Vallecano, thus helping Getafe avoid
relegation.
Konyaspor In the summer of 2014, Marica signed a two-year contract with Turkish side
Konyaspor where he was teammates with compatriot
Gabriel Torje. He made his
Süper Lig debut on 30 August under coach
Mesut Bakkal in a 2–1 away loss to
Eskişehirspor. On 28 September, he scored his only league goal in a 1–0 win over
Kayseri Erciyesspor. Marica was released by Konyaspor on 15 October 2015, having played only seven games in 14 months for the Turkish side, mainly because of his injuries.
Steaua București On 14 January 2016, Marica reached an agreement with
Steaua București, thus returning to Romania after twelve years. In his first match with Steaua, a 2–0 victory against
Concordia Chiajna, he was played by coach
Laurențiu Reghecampf from the start and was replaced after 84 minutes by
Tha'er Bawab. His performance was deemed weak and conservative, as he only managed to get two opportunities in a game in which he was otherwise unremarkable. He made only seven goalless appearances for Steaua in the league, with the last one taking place on 10 May 2016 in a 4–1 victory against
ASA Târgu Mureș. Marica also played in a 2–0 win over
Astra Giurgiu in the
2015–16 Cupa Ligii semi-finals, a competition which Steaua won, but he did not play in the 2–1 victory against Chiajna in the
final. ==International career==