He played 186 matches in the first league of Romania, most of them for Oțelul Galați, being also the captain of the club in the 1990s and a legend of the red, white and blue side.
Captain of a generation, considered by many supporters to be the most beautiful in Oțelul's history, with players such as: Cătălin Tofan, Costin Maleș, Tudorel Pelin, Viorel Tănase, Gigi Ion or Viorel Ion, Ștefan surprised many fans by the fact that, despite he was a defensive profile player, scored a lot of goals, many of them decisive for "the Steelworkers".
In the 2011 IFFHS top of the best defensive profile scorers in the history of football, Ștefan was on the 63rd place, over players like: Fernando Hierro, Laurent Blanc, Roberto Carlos or Franz Beckenbauer.
As proof of attachment the fans even made him a song, which began with the phrase: Vali Ştefan-căpitan, ca Baresi la Milan!
[2] Valentin Ștefan retired in 2000 and for a period he was the vice-president of Oțelul Galați, then in 2006 he left Romania and moved in Cyprus where he works as baker and football coach.