Early years and Politehnica Timișoara Timofte was born on 16 December 1967 in
Anina, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Minerul, starting his senior career at the same team in
Divizia C. In 1988 he went to play for
Divizia B side
CSM Reșița. Rădulescu also used him in all four matches in the
1990–91 UEFA Cup campaign where they eliminated in the first round
Atlético Madrid with 2–1 on aggregate, being defeated in the next one by
Sporting Lisbon. Timofte made his last Divizia A appearance on 23 June 1991 in a 1–0 away loss to
Universitatea Cluj, totaling 65 matches with 19 goals in the competition, all of them for Politehnica. He made his
Primeira Liga debut on 24 August as coach
Carlos Alberto Silva used him as a starter in a 2–0 away victory against
Estoril in which he opened the score. He would go on to score in the following round in a 5–0 victory against
União Torreense, then in January 1992 he managed a brace in another 5–0 win, this time against Estoril. That win helped his side gain an important seven points advantage over Benfica in the fight for the
title which
The Dragons eventually won, Timofte contributing with a total of nine goals in 31 appearances. By the end of the season he was the team's top-scorer, having netted 11 goals in the league, including one in a 1–0 win over
Beira-Mar which helped them mathematically win the championship. Timofte won the
1993 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, being used by coach
Tomislav Ivić in the 1–0 win in the second leg against Benfica. He ended the season by winning another trophy, being used as a starter by coach
Bobby Robson in both matches against
Sporting Lisbon in the
1994 Taça de Portugal final. He then played in both legs of the tie against
Brøndby IF, providing an assist in the win in the first leg that helped Boavista eliminate the Danes and reach the
1999–2000 Champions League group stage, where he played three games and scored once in a 1–1 draw against
Feyenoord. He has a total of 24 matches with five goals in European competitions. During his years spent at Boavista he was a fan-favourite, being nicknamed "O Deus Romeno" (The Romanian God). In 2020, Timofte was selected by the fans of Boavista in the team's all time best XI. ==International career==