Artur Crăciun

Artur Crăciun (born 29 June 1998) is a Moldovan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Polish I liga club ŁKS Łódź and the Moldova national team.

Artur Crăciun

Personal information
Date of birth	(1998-06-29) 29 June 1998 (age 27)
Place of birth	Chișinău, Moldova
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	ŁKS Łódź
Number	22
Youth career
	Zimbru Chișinău
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2017	Zimbru-2 Chișinău	35	(3)
2016–2017	Zimbru Chișinău	11	(0)
2017	Sheriff-2 Tiraspol	10	(1)
2017–2018	Sheriff Tiraspol	0	(0)
2017	→ Milsami Orhei (loan)	15	(0)
2018–2019	Milsami Orhei	38	(2)
2019–2020	Universitatea Cluj	18	(2)
2020–2022	Budapest Honvéd	2	(0)
2021	→ Viitorul Constanța (loan)	0	(0)
2021	→ Sfîntul Gheorghe (loan)	8	(0)
2021–2022	→ Lokomotiv Plovdiv (loan)	13	(0)
2022	→ Tsarsko Selo (loan)	6	(0)
2022–2023	Hapoel Kfar Saba	31	(0)
2023–2025	Puszcza Niepołomice	58	(12)
2025–	ŁKS Łódź	5	(0)
International career‡
2016	Moldova U19[a]	3	(0)
2017–2020	Moldova U21[a]	11	(1)
2019–	Moldova	33	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20 June 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 26 March 2025

Club career

Crăciun made his professional debut for Zimbru in the Divizia Națională on 20 May 2016 against Academia Chișinău, coming on as a 92nd-minute substitute.

On 23 July 2019 he signed a contract with Romanian Liga II side Universitatea Cluj.^[1]

On 10 March 2021, he was loaned out to Sfântul Gheorghe from Budapest Honvéd.^[2]

In June 2022, he moved to Hapoel Kfar Saba.^[3]

On 10 July 2023, Crăciun signed a one-year contract, with an option to extend, with Polish Ekstraklasa newcomers Puszcza Niepołomice.^[4] On 23 July, he made his debut in Puszcza's first-ever top-tier outing, a 3–2 away loss to Widzew Łódź.^[5] He regularly appeared in the line-ups thereafter, contributing to Puszcza's bid for top-flight survival by scoring game-winning goals in home games against Widzew on 11 December,^[6] and Lech Poznań on 13 April 2024;^[7] he also became the designated penalty taker. On 10 May, Puszcza exercised their option to prolong Crăciun's contract for another twelve months.^[8]

On 20 June 2025, Crăciun moved to Polish second division club ŁKS Łódź, signing a two-year deal with an option for a further year.^[9]

International career

He made his debut for Moldova national team on 14 November 2019 in a Euro 2020 qualifier against France. He started the game and played the whole match.^[10]

Career statistics

International

As of match played 25 March 2025^[11]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Moldova
	2019	2	0
	2020	2	0
	2022	8	0
	2023	10	0
	2024	9	0
	2025	2	0
Total		33	0

Honours

Milsami Orhei^[12]

• Moldovan Cup: 2017–18
• Moldovan Super Cup: 2019

Sfîntul Gheorghe

• Moldovan Cup: 2020–21^[12]

Notes

1. Only official UEFA matches included