Gheorghe Popescu

For the early 20th century Romanian footballer, see Gheorghe Popescu I.

Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe ˈd͡ʒikə poˈpesku]; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football who played as a defender.

Gheorghe Popescu

Popescu in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth	(1967-10-09) 9 October 1967 (age 55)
Place of birth	Calafat, Romania
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Sweeper, centre back, midfielder
Club information
Current team	Farul Constanța (chairman)
Youth career
1975–1984	Dunărea Calafat
1984–1985	Universitatea Craiova
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1985–1990	Universitatea Craiova	124	(18)
1988	→ Steaua București (loan)	13	(1)
1990–1994	PSV	108	(23)
1994–1995	Tottenham Hotspur	23	(3)
1995–1997	Barcelona	68	(9)
1997–2001	Galatasaray	111	(6)
2001–2002	Lecce	28	(3)
2002	Dinamo București	8	(0)
2002–2003	Hannover 96	14	(1)
Total		497	(64)
International career
1988–2003	Romania	115	(16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in that period, including a four-year stint at PSV Eindhoven and winning the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray. He also played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, in Serie A with Lecce and in the Bundesliga with Hannover 96. In his native country he played for Universitatea Craiova, Steaua București and Dinamo București. In addition to his defensive skills, he was also capable of starting attacks deep from his own half.

His tactical knowledge as a defender made him a valuable team member in top European competitions until he reached his late-thirties. He was a key part of the Romania national team in the 1990s and earned 115 caps, scoring 16 goals. He was present at 1990 World Cup, 1994 World Cup, Euro 1996, 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi.

Club career

After playing six seasons for Universitatea Craiova, Popescu was loaned to Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup during their 1987–88 campaign. He moved abroad to the Netherlands in 1990, and signed for PSV Eindhoven at the request of Sir Bobby Robson, helping them to keep among the top Dutch sides, until he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on 9 September 1994 for a fee of £2.9million.^[1] He played 23 times in the Premier League and scored three goals as Spurs (who changed manager from Ossie Ardiles to Gerry Francis a few weeks after Popescu arrived) finished seventh in the league – their highest finish for five years. He also helped them to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost 4–1 to eventual cup winners Everton.^[2] However, after less than a year in England, he left Tottenham to sign for the Spanish club Barcelona for £3million, succeeding Ronald Koeman in the team.^[3] He was made captain of the Catalan club, contributing to their Copa del Rey (domestic cup) glory in his first season and their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph in his second.

After leaving Barcelona during the summer of 1997, he was transferred to Galatasaray of Turkey, where he spent four years and won several major trophies, including the UEFA Cup in May 2000 – where Galatasaray defeated Arsenal, key rivals of his old club Tottenham, on penalties after a goalless draw in open play and he scored the final penalty shot in the penalty shootout. He spent the 2001–2002 season in Italy with Serie A club Lecce, before returning to his native Romania for a brief spell with Dinamo Bucharest, before winding up with a season in Germany with Hannover 96.

Popescu was never outside the top four in the Romanian Footballer of the Year awards for 13 years from 1989 until 2001. He was recently voted into Romanian footballs all-time World Cup team.^[4]

International career

At international level, Popescu is Romania's all-time third most capped players with 115, in which he scored 16 goals. He played for his country in the 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups, Euro 1996 and Euro 2000. He also entered the symbolic but exclusive circle of players with a century of caps.^[5]

Personal life

He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi.

Tax evasion and imprisonment

On 4 March 2014, Popescu and seven others, among them Mihai Stoica, were convicted by a Romanian appeals court of money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the transfer of football players from Romania to other countries. Popescu was sentenced to a jail term of three years and one month.^[6][7] He was released for good conduct on 4 November 2015, after serving half of his sentence, the books he wrote and published during his imprisonment also helping towards his reduced sentence as customary for Romanian law. ^[8]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[9][10]

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Universitatea Craiova	1984–85	Divizia A	2	0			–		0	0	2	0
	1985–86		18	1			–		3	0	21	1
	1986–87		31	1			–		4	0	35	1
	1987–88		14	1			–		2	0	16	1
	1988–89		33	8			–		0	0	33	8
	1989–90		26	7			–		0	0	26	7
	Total		124	18			–		9	0	133	18
Steaua București (loan)	1987–88	Divizia A	13	1			–		3	0	16	1
PSV	1990–91	Eredivisie	30	5		1	–		2	0	32	6
	1991–92		29	7		0	–		3	0	32	7
	1992–93		24	6		0	–		6	0	30	6
	1993–94		23	5		0	–		1	1	24	6
	1994–95		2	0		0	–		0	0	2	0
	Total		108	23		1	–		12	1	120	25
Tottenham Hotspur	1994–95	Premier League	23	3	3	0	2	0	–		28	3
Barcelona	1995–96	La Liga	39	5	7	2	–		8	1	54	8
	1996–97		29	4	5	0	–		8	1	42	5
	Total		68	9	12	2	–		16	1	96	12
Galatasaray	1997–98	1.Lig	32	2	8	2	–		8	0	48	4
	1998–99		29	2	5	1	–		8	0	42	3
	1999–2000		25	2	3	0	–		14	0	42	2
	2000–01		24	0	3	0	–		15	0	42	0
	2001–02		1	0	–		–		3	0	4	0
	Total		111	6	19	3	–		48	0	178	9
Lecce	2001–02	Serie A	28	3	0	0	–		–		28	3
Dinamo București	2002–03	Divizia A	8	0	0	0	–		0	0	8	0
Hannover	2002–03	Bundesliga	14	1	0	0	–		–		14	1
Career total			497	64	34	6	2	0	88	3	621	73

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[5]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1988	4	0
	1989	8	1
	1990	14	0
	1991	6	0
	1992	4	1
	1993	4	0
	1994	15	1
	1995	5	0
	1996	8	6
	1997	7	4
	1998	12	2
	1999	8	0
	2000	6	0
	2001	5	1
	2002	8	0
	2003	1	0
Total		115	16

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popescu goal.

List of international goals scored by Gheorghe Popescu

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 May 1989	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Bulgaria	1–0	1–0	FIFA World Cup 1990 Qualifying
2	29 November 1992	Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Cyprus	1–0	4–1	FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
3	12 November 1994	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Slovakia	1–0	3–2	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
4	1 June 1996	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Moldova	2–0	3–1	Friendly
5	1 June 1996	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Moldova	3–0	3–1	Friendly
6	9 October 1996	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	3–0	4–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
7	14 December 1996	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	North Macedonia	1–0	3–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
8	14 December 1996	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	North Macedonia	2–0	3–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
9	14 December 1996	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	North Macedonia	3–0	3–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
10	29 March 1997	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	2–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
11	29 March 1997	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	3–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
12	29 March 1997	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	6–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
13	29 March 1997	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	8–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
14	6 June 1998	Stadionul Ilie Oană, Ploieşti, Romania	Moldova	1–0	5–1	Friendly
15	2 September 1998	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	1–0	7–0	UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifying
16	6 October 2001	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Georgia	1–1	1–1	World Cup 2002 Qualifying

Honours

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 1987–88
• Cupa României: 1987–88

PSV

• Eredivisie: 1990–91, 1991–92
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1992

Barcelona

• Copa del Rey: 1996–97
• Supercopa de España: 1996
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1996–97

Galatasaray

• 1.Lig: 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Turkish Cup: 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Turkish Super Cup: 1997
• UEFA Cup: 1999–2000
• UEFA Super Cup: 2000

Individual

• Romanian Footballer of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996^[11]

See also

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References

1. "Football: Spurs sign Popescu: Sugar takes outlay to 7.5m pounds". The Independent. 10 September 1994.
2. "Gheorghe POPESCU". Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
3. Ridley, Ian (13 August 1995). "Club-by-club guide: The prospects, the players to watch, the arrivals and departures". The Independent.
4. "Planet World Cup: The All-Time World Cup Squads". planetworldcup.com. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
5. Mamrud, Roberto (5 April 2003). "Gheorghe Popescu – Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
6. "Ex-aanvoerder Barcelona moet drie jaar de cel in" (in Dutch). De Standaard. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
7. "Gică Popescu, condamnat cu EXECUTARE cu o zi înaintea alegerilor de la FRF" (in Romanian). romaniatv.net. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
8. "Gheorghe Popescu, la ieşirea din închisoare: A fost cea mai grea perioadă din viaţa mea" (in Romanian). agerpres.ro. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
9. Gheorghe Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com
10. Gheorghe Popescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
11. Razvan Toma (6 January 2016). "Romania – Player of the Year Awards". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 February 2016.

Further reading

• Nanu, Daniel (2003). Gică Popescu: Viața mea. Edigold. ISBN 978-9-7300-2985-7.

External links

• Gica Popescu's International caps
• Gheorghe Popescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Gheorghe Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com