Vadim Crîcimari

Vadim Crîcimari was a Moldovan footballer, a forward who played for many of Moldova's leading clubs across almost two decades and later spent a season with Oțelul Galați in Romania. He died on 4 November 2026, aged 38, after a months-long fight with an aggressive cancer.

Crîcimari was born in Tiraspol on 22 August 1988. He came through Moldovan football and played for Rapid Ghidighici, which later became CSCA-Rapid Chișinău, as well as Speranța Nisporeni and Zimbru Chișinău, one of the country's best-known clubs. With his club side he reached the final of the Moldovan Cup in the 2011-12 season.

In 2014 he moved abroad to Russia, where he played for Tosno and for SKA-Energia Khabarovsk. Back in Moldova he turned out for Academia Chișinău, Dinamo-Auto Tiraspol, Florești, Sfântul Gheorghe and Dacia Buiucani. In the summer of 2021 he joined Oțelul Galați, the Romanian club that won promotion from Liga III to Liga II that season. He later returned to Dacia Buiucani and also played for Victoria and Speranis before retiring at the end of 2025.

After hanging up his boots he stayed close to the game as a coach at a children's and youth football school in Chișinău.

In March 2026 Moldovan football site Moldfootball.com reported that he had been diagnosed with stage four Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system. The Moldovan football community launched a public appeal and raised more than 23,000 euros, and he travelled to a clinic in Italy for treatment. On the morning of 4 November rumours of his death spread, and his friend and former teammate Anatolie Cheptine said he was in a coma on a ventilator. Later that evening his death was confirmed. Oțelul Galați paid tribute, writing that he had gone to a better world. He is survived by his wife, Victoria, his daughter, Rianna, and his son, Raul.

Crîcimari was a familiar figure in the Moldovan National Division, a striker who moved between clubs in Chișinău and the regions and was remembered by teammates as a strong, determined player. His friend Anatolie Cheptine described him that last day as a fighter who knew better than anyone what he had been through. Moldfootball.com, which first reported his illness and led coverage of the fundraising appeal, published the news of his death on behalf of the wider football community and offered condolences to his family and friends.