Lucian Iulian Sânmărtean (born 13 March 1980) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a winger, currently he is the assistant coach of the Romania national under-21 team..

Regarded by coach Ioan Sabău as the country's most talented player after Gheorghe Hagi,[1][2] he was awarded Romanian Footballer of the Year in 2014.

[1] Sănmărtean made his Gloria Bistrița first-team debut on 24 April 1999 in a 3–1 win against FC Onești as a substitute.

On 7 January 2003, the 23-year-old was seen as a straight replacement for former Rapid București captain Constantin Schumacher after his departure, media reports suggesting a fee of €250,000 being paid for Sânmărtean.

[9] However, after his return in Bistriţa, his medical file came clean, the disease being invented, to cover the money disagreement between the two chairmen.

[11] Sânmărtean became the fifth Romanian at Panathinaikos, after Doru Nicolae, Dănuț Lupu, Erik Lincar and Dumitru Mitu.

"[1] On 26 March, he made his unofficial debut, in the David Di Tommaso Memorial, against AS Monaco, being handed the no.

[19] He made his first appearance in his second spell for the club in a league match against Rapid București on 1 March, coming on as a substitute and being handed the no.

[22] In July, Steaua expressed its interest in the Romanian playmaker, but the disagreement over the player's wage, persuaded him to extend his contract with Gloria.

On 4 October, he obtained his first point since his captain appointment, leading his team to a 1–1 draw against Steaua București.

[33] On 26 May, he was in the startup team against CFR Cluj, in the Romanian Cup Final, but he was substituted at half time, due to a minor injury.

[6] Although he missed the entire pre-season due to an injury,[42] he was a starter against Rapid București, in Vaslui's opening match.

[43] On 18 August, in the 2–0 victory against Sparta Prague, he created the first goal and assisted the second,[44] leading his team to a historical qualification in Europa League's Group Stages.

[48] On 22 December, he finished second on the vote for Gazeta Sporturilor's Romanian Footballer of the Year Award, behind Gabriel Torje.

[50] On 9 March 2012, he closed the scoreboard in the 4–0 home league win against Concordia Chiajna, scoring the fourth goal.

[55] The two clubs reached an agreement to release the player before his contract with Steaua ended, thus he joined Al-Ittihad in January 2015.

[60] However, following Victor Piturca's appointment as Romanian national team's coach, Sânmărtean was not called for the friendly against San Marino, despite his good shape.

[4] The Romanian fans started a petition called "Sânmărtean at the National team" on Facebook[61][62] but it had no effect because he was not included in the squad once again.