Andrei Gabriel Torje (; born 22 November 1989) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a winger, who is currently a television sport pundit for Digi Sport and sporting director at Liga IV club CSM Oltenița.
Torje was named Romanian Footballer of the Year in 2011.
Club career Early career Torje was born on 22 November 1989 in Timișoara, Romania and began playing football at Miroslav Giuchici's youth club Srbianka. He started playing senior-level football around the age of 15, when Srbianka sent him to Furnirul Deta in the fourth league. He joined CFR Timișoara, where he played during the 2005–06 Divizia B season.
Politehnica Timișoara Torje's talent was noticed by Politehnica Timișoara's coach Gheorghe Hagi, who brought him to the first team. Hagi gave Torje his Divizia A debut on 28 April 2006 by sending him in the 75th minute to replace Marian Constantinescu in a 0–0 draw against Argeș Pitești. In his following match in the competition, Torje scored his first goal in a 4–2 loss to Farul Constanța. He helped the team reach the 2007 Cupa României final, where coach Valentin Velcea used him the entire match in the 2–0 loss to Rapid București.
Dinamo București On 15 January 2008, Torje signed a five-year contract with Dinamo București, which paid a transfer fee of €2 million to Politehnica. On 1 November 2008, he provided an assist to Adrian Cristea's header that closed the scoring for a 1–1 draw against rivals Steaua București. Torje helped the club achieve what was dubbed "The wonder from Liberec" by winning the away game 3–0 against Slovan Liberec to force a penalty shoot-out after losing the first leg by the same score, ultimately qualifying for the 2009–10 Europa League group stage. He scored a career-best nine league goals in the 2010–11 season, including the winning goal in a 3–2 derby victory against Rapid București and the only goal in a 1–0 win over Steaua. The team reached the 2011 Cupa României final, where Torje played the entire match under coach Ioan Andone and scored once in the 2–1 loss to Steaua.
Udinese On 30 August 2011, Torje left Dinamo and signed a five-year contract with Serie A club Udinese for an undisclosed fee, rumored to be around €4 million but capable of reaching €7 million depending on performance bonuses. He played his first Serie A game as a starter under coach Francesco Guidolin against Lecce on 11 September, providing an assist to Antonio Di Natale for a 2–0 win, even though he had only five days of training with his new team. Torje had an impressive performance, suggesting that Alexis Sánchez might not be as irreplaceable as first thought. For the way he played in 2011, Torje won the Romanian Footballer of the Year award. On 5 February 2012, Torje scored his first league goal in a 3–2 loss to Fiorentina. On 24 March, in a game against Palermo he equalized the score in the 85th minute, giving his team a 1–1 draw.
Loan to Granada In order to get more playing time, on 8 June 2012, Torje signed for La Liga side Granada on a season-long loan. He made his debut for the Spanish team on 20 August, as coach Juan Antonio Anquela sent him in the 78th minute to substitute Fabián Orellana in a 1–0 away defeat to Rayo Vallecano. On 30 September, he scored his first goal in the competition and also earned a penalty from which Guilherme Siqueira scored for a 2–1 win against Celta Vigo. He scored two more goals by the end of 2012 in victories against Mallorca and Real Betis. Halfway through the season Torje was considered one of the most successful transfers in the 2012–13 La Liga, and he became a crucial part of the team. He was praised for his performance in the 1–0 victory over La Liga title holders, Real Madrid, on 2 February 2013.
Loan to Espanyol On 2 September 2013, Torje began his second journey in La Liga, this time being loaned to the second major club in Barcelona, RCD Espanyol. He made his debut for the club on 23 September, when coach Ernesto Valverde sent him in the 74th minute to replace Simão Sabrosa in a 3–2 win over Athletic Bilbao. He played only 12 league games for Espanyol without scoring a goal. Thus, the Spanish side did not activate the option to buy the player at the end of the loan spell.
Loan to Konyaspor In June 2014, Turkish side Konyaspor announced that they reached an agreement with Udinese to loan Torje for one season. There, he became teammates with compatriot Ciprian Marica. Torje made his Süper Lig debut under coach Mesut Bakkal on 30 August and scored once in a 2–1 away loss to Eskişehirspor. In the following match, he scored the first-ever goal at Konyaspor's new stadium with a spectacular scissors kick to help the club earn a 2–0 victory against Balıkesirspor. In May 2015, he scored two goals in two 1–0 wins over Gençlerbirliği and Beşiktaş, with the goal against the latter being directly from a corner kick, a result that mathematically eliminated Beşiktaş from the title race.
Loan to Osmanlispor Torje was loaned out by Udinese for the 2015–16 season to Osmanlıspor, where he became a teammate of fellow Romanian Raul Rusescu. In his second match for his new team, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away victory against Galatasaray. On 26 September 2015, he scored a goal from a free kick and provided two assists in a 3–1 success over Trabzonspor.
Terek Grozny In July 2016, Torje signed with Terek Grozny and became teammates with compatriot Gheorghe Grozav. He made his Russian Premier League debut on 31 July, as coach Rashid Rakhimov sent him in the 66th minute to substitute Pedro Ken in a 1–0 home win over Krylia Sovetov. His spell at Terek was unsuccessful, as he did not adapt, making only 10 goalless league appearances during the 2016–17 season.
Loan to Karabükspor In July 2017, Torje was loaned by Terek to Karabükspor for a €200,000 fee. He had several compatriots as teammates, including Paul Papp, Gheorghe Grozav, Iasmin Latovlevici, Valerică Găman and Cristian Tănase. Torje netted his first goal from a free kick in a 3–1 win over İstanbul Başakşehir. Subsequently, Torje scored once again from a free kick in a loss to Yeni Malatyaspor, after which he netted the only goal of a 1–0 win over Kayserispor.
Loan to Dinamo București On 2 February 2018, he rejoined Dinamo București on loan from Terek until the end of the 2017–18 season. He scored in his first match to help the team earn a 4–3 win over Concordia Chiajna. In his following match, he scored in a 2–2 derby draw against FCSB. In late April 2018, he was removed from the squad by coach Florin Bratu following a disagreement.
Sivasspor After ending his contract with Terek, Torje returned to Turkey, signing with Sivasspor on 1 September 2018. There, he became teammates with compatriot Paul Papp and Brazilian star Robinho. Torje made his last Süper Lig appearance on 24 May 2019 in a 4–3 victory against Galatasaray, totaling 86 matches with 11 goals in the competition.
AEL and Bandırmaspor On 4 February 2020, he signed a contract with Super League club AEL, where he became a teammate of fellow Romanian Steliano Filip. Torje made his Super League Greece debut on 8 February, as coach Michalis Grigoriou sent him in the 62nd minute to replace Vinícius in a 0–0 draw against Lamia. On 22 June, he scored a brace in a 3–1 home win against Volos in the 2019–20 Super League play-offs.
After leaving AEL at the end of 2020, Torje moved to Turkish TFF First League club Bandırmaspor in January 2021.
Dinamo București and Farul Constanța In September 2021, Torje went for a third spell at Dinamo București. In his first match, the team suffered a 6–0 defeat in a derby against FCSB. His stint was unsuccessful because he could not help the team avoid relegation at the end of the 2021–22 season.
On 3 June 2022, Torje joined Farul Constanța on a two-year deal. In the first half of the 2022–23 season, he made 16 league appearances and scored three goals under coach Gheorghe Hagi. On 29 December 2022, Torje was released from the club after having his contract mutually terminated, but Farul still managed to win the title without him. He accumulated a total of 191 games and 30 goals in the Romanian top division, Liga I.
Late career On 6 January 2023, Torje joined Turkish TFF First League club Gençlerbirliği. He left the team in the summer of 2023, signing in September with Liga II side Concordia Chiajna. In June 2024, Torje left Chiajna and in October joined fellow second-tier club AFC Câmpulung Muscel, where he ended his career in January 2025.
International career
From 2006 to 2010, Torje was consistently featured for Romania's under-17 and under-21 sides. Notably, with the latter, he finished first in the group for the 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers before reaching a play-off, where he captained the team in the 2–1 aggregate loss to England U21, who advanced to the final tournament.
Torje played 56 matches and scored 11 goals for Romania, making his debut on 3 September 2010 under coach Răzvan Lucescu in a 1–1 draw against Albania in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. During those qualifiers, he played a total of eight matches and scored a brace in a 2–0 away win over Luxembourg. Before the goals against Luxembourg, Torje scored his first international goal in a 1–1 friendly draw against Cyprus. He played in all 10 matches during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, scoring three goals that helped Romania earn two victories against Andorra and one against Estonia. Subsequently, the team reached the play-off, where he played in both legs of the 4–2 aggregate loss to Greece, who advanced to the final tournament.
Torje then played nine games without scoring in the successful Euro 2016 qualifiers. He was selected by coach Anghel Iordănescu to be part of Romania's squad for the final tournament. There, he played in all three games in the eventual group stage exit. In the first game, which was the tournament's first match, a 2–1 loss to hosts France, he came as a substitute and replaced Adrian Popa in the 82nd minute. In the second, he played the entire match in the 1–1 draw against Switzerland, and in the third, he entered the field in the 56th minute to replace Denis Alibec in the 1–0 loss to Albania.
Torje played in a 1–1 draw against Montenegro in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. He made his last appearance for the national team on 14 November 2017 in a 3–0 friendly loss to the Netherlands.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupEuropeOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsCFR Timișoara (loan)2005–06Divizia B8110——91Politehnica Timișoara2005–06Divizia A51———512006–07Liga I15030——1802007–08Liga I17110——181Total37240–—412Dinamo București2007–08Liga I15110——1612008–09Liga I3033020—3532009–10Liga I2933080—4032010–11Liga I2994141—37112011–12Liga I51—41—143Total10817111182—13720Udinese2011–12Serie A2121000—222Granada (loan)2012–13La Liga34310——353Espanyol (loan)2013–14La Liga12030——150Konyaspor (loan)2014–15Süper Lig27591——366Osmanlıspor (loan)2015–16Süper Lig25310——263Terek Grozny2016–17Russian Premier League10010——110Karabükspor (loan)2017–18Süper Lig15331——184Dinamo București (loan)2017–18Liga I7210——82Sivasspor2018–19Süper Lig19010——200AEL2019–20Super League Greece102––—1022020–21Super League Greece80———80Total182———182Bandırmaspor 2020–21TFF 1. Lig81———81Dinamo București2021–22Liga I23610—20266Farul Constanța2022–23Liga I16312——175Gençlerbirliği2022–23TFF 1. Lig92———92Concordia Chiajna2023–24Liga II131———131AFC Câmpulung Muscel2024–25Liga II81———81Career total418543951822047761
International + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsRomania20103020111242012942013112201440201570201692201720Total5712
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Torje goal.