Early career Craioveanu, nicknamed
Grande, was born on 14 February 1968 in
Hunedoara, Romania and began playing junior-level football when he was 13 years old at
Olt Scornicești. In 1987 he started his senior career at Constructorul Slatina, three years later moving to neighboring club, Metalurgistul. A year later he went to
Drobeta-Turnu Severin where he was coached by his childhood idol
Ilie Balaci.
Universitatea Craiova In 1991 he went to play for
Universitatea Craiova where he made his
Divizia A debut on 3 March in a 1–0 away loss to
Steaua București. Cârțu also sent him in the 87th minute to replace
Adrian Pigulea in the 2–1 win over
FC Bacău in the
Cupa României final. Two years later, he would win another
Cupa României, with coach
Marian Bondrea sending him in the 70th minute to replace
Silvian Cristescu in the
final, Craioveanu closing the score by the end of the 2–0 victory against
Dacia Unirea Brăila. In the following two seasons, Craioveanu would be the top-scorer of the league. He scored 22 goals in the first one and 27 in the second of which eight were in the last two rounds and consisted of five in a 10–3 win over
UTA Arad and a hat-trick in his last Divizia A match which was a 5–4 win against
Electroputere Craiova. Craioveanu has a total of 61 goals scored in 129 appearances in the Romanian top-division, all of them for "U" Craiova. He made his league debut on 8 October when coach
Salva Iriarte sent him in the 69th minute to replace
Óscar de Paula in a 3–0 away loss to
Real Valladolid. He scored his first goal on 17 November in a 3–1 away loss to
Real Betis. In the
following season he scored eight goals including a brace in a victory against
Extremadura and two goals in two draws against
Atlético Madrid. In his
last season with
The White and Blues, he netted seven goals under the guidance of coach
Bernd Krauss which include a double in a win over
Compostela, helping the team finish in third place. When Real Sociedad reached 100 years since its foundation, Craioveanu was voted as the club's "most loved foreigner", receiving a
marshal's
baton as a gift.
Villarreal In 1998 he moved to
Villarreal where for a short while he was teammates with fellow Romanian
Marius Iordache. He played in Villarreal's first ever La Liga match on 31 August under the guidance of coach
José Antonio Irulegui, opening the score against
Real Madrid with a header in the third minute. Thus he became the first ever scorer in the league for his team, even though the game was lost with 4–1 and Craioveanu was replaced late in the first half after being injured by
Roberto Carlos. He tallied a total of 13 goals until the end of the
season but they were not enough to avoid relegation. Afterwards he was teammates with compatriot
Cosmin Contra, scoring his last two top-league goals during the
2004–05 season in a 2–1 loss to Barcelona and a 2–2 draw against Atlético Madrid. In the
following season, Craioveanu made his last appearances in the La Liga, totaling 223 matches with 48 goals in the competition. The city hall of
Getafe placed a statue of him in the El Bercial park. ==International career==