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Gheorghe Popescu
Personal information
Popescu in 2018
Date of birth	(1967-10-09) 9 October 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth	Calafat, Romania
Height	1.88 m
Playing position	Sweeper, centre back, midfielder
Club information
Current club	Farul Constanța (chairman)
Youth career
1975–1982	Dunărea Calafat
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1982–1984	Dunărea Calafat
1985–1990	Universitatea Craiova	124	(18)
1988	→ Steaua București (loan)	13	(1)
1990–1994	PSV Eindhoven	108	(23)
1994–1995	Tottenham Hotspur	23	(3)
1995–1997	Barcelona	66	(9)
1997–2001	Galatasaray	111	(6)
2001–2002	Lecce	28	(3)
2002	Dinamo București	8	(0)
2002–2003	Hannover 96	14	(1)
Total		495	(64)
National team
1988–2003	Romania	115	(16)
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

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

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

Dunărea Calafat

Gheorghe Popescu, nicknamed Baciul (The Shepherd) because he was known for his leadership skills was born on 9 October 1967 in Calafat, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1975 at local club, Dunărea. During his childhood years, his father would take him to Universitatea Craiova's matches during their "Craiova Maxima" period, at one point Popescu telling him:"Father, the day will come when I will be in Ștefănescu's place. And the people will love me more than him!" He started to play in the Romanian lower leagues for Dunărea's senior squad in 1982. His first coach, Valentin Ghiță praised Popescu's ambition and passion from those years giving an example of a moment from the hard winter from 1983 when Popescu came to his house to ask him to go to the field and train him. Ghiță accepted and trained Popescu even do the snow was up to his waist and the weather was frosty.

Universitatea Craiova and Steaua București

In 1985 his talent was noticed by Nicolae Zamfir who brought him to play for Universitatea Craiova. He made his Divizia A debut on 9 June when he entered on the second half, replacing Marian Bâcu in a 1–0 home victory with FCM Brașov. He scored his first goal in the competition almost one year later in a 7–0 win over Rapid București.

In the middle of the 1987–88 season, Popescu went to play for Steaua București, winning title under the guidance of coach Anghel Iordănescu, also reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup where he played in both legs of the 2–0 aggregate loss with Benfica.

He returned in 1988 at "U" Craiova where in the following two seasons he showed an appetite for goal, scoring 15 goals, managing a personal record of eight goals in the 1988–89 season.

PSV Eindhoven

In the summer of 1990, Popescu was transferred from Craiova to PSV Eindhoven, coach Bobby Robson talked about the transfer 10 years later in an interview for The Guardian:"To bring him from Romania, we sent two washing machines, three televisions and other Philips technology to the club (n.r. Universitatea Craiova)". He made his Eredivisie debut on 28 August, Robson using him all the minutes in a 5–0 home win with FC Utrecht. He scored his first goal on 8 September, closing the score in a 3–0 with MVV Maastricht. In his first two seasons, Popescu won two league titles under the guidance of Robson, afterwards winning the 1992 Dutch Supercup, being used all the minutes by coach Hans Westerhof in the 1–0 win against Feyenoord. In his years spent at PSV, Popescu was a constant appearance for the team, also developing a good friendship with Brazilians Romário and Ronaldo.

Tottenham Hotspur

He was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on 9 September 1994 for a fee of £2.9million, being teammate with fellow Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu. He played 23 times in the Premier League and scored three goals, including the only one in a home win with Arsenal when he defeated goalkeeper David Seaman after a counter-attack, helping Spurs (who changed manager from Ossie Ardiles to Gerry Francis a few weeks after Popescu arrived) finish seventh in the league – their highest finish for five years. He also helped them reach the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost 4–1 to eventual cup winners Everton.

Barcelona

However, after less than a year in England, he left Tottenham to sign for Spanish club Barcelona for £3million, succeeding Ronald Koeman in the team. In his first season he was teammate with compatriot Gheorghe Hagi and was coached by Johann Cruyff, about whom he said after his death in 2016:"He is the coach I loved the most! He was the greatest trainer I worked with in my career! For me, in a ranking of coaches, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd places are occupied by him. The rest, from 4th down...". He made his La Liga debut on 2 September 1995, opening the score in a 2–0 away win against Real Valladolid. He scored a total of five goals in his first season with the Catalans, including a brace in a 4–1 victory against UD Salamanca. Popescu also scored once in a 3–1 over Sevilla in the round of 16 of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup as Barça reached the semi-finals at which stage they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich.

In his second season, his coach from PSV, Bobby Robson became Barcelona's manager, and made Popescu the team's captain ahead of veterans Pep Guardiola and Hristo Stoichkov, and superstars Ronaldo, Luis Figo, and Luis Enrique. In that season, Popescu helped Barcelona win a cup treble consisting of the 1996 Supercopa de España after a 6–5 aggregate win over Atlético Madrid, the 1996–97 Copa del Rey after a 3–2 over Real Betis and the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in which he scored one goal against AIK in the quarter-finals and played the first half of the 1–0 win in the final against Paris Saint-Germain.

Galatasaray

After leaving Barcelona during the summer of 1997, he was transferred to Galatasaray of Turkey, where he reunited with Hagi, Romanians Adrian Ilie and Iulian Filipescu also being at the club. He made his Turkish league debut on 31 July under coach Fatih Terim in a 0–0 with Ankaragücü, scoring his first goal in the competition on 26 September in a 4–1 home win over Şekerspor. In his first two seasons he won two league titles, one Turkish Cup and the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup in May 2000 – where Galatasaray defeated Arsenal in the final on penalties after a goalless draw in open play and he scored the final penalty shot, defeating David Seaman in the penalty shoot-out, obtaining the victory.

In June 2000, Romanian Mircea Lucescu replaced Fatih Terim at the Cim Bom Bom side, together winning another league and a cup, also the 2000 UEFA Super Cup, after a 2–1 win against Real Madrid. They also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League during the 2000–01 season where after a 3–2 victory in the first leg, they lost with 3–0 in the second against Real Madrid.

Lecce

In 2001 he went to play for Serie A club Lecce, saying in an interview for la Repubblica:"I think of Lecce as something romantic. It is the only team in Italy that comes from the south of the country. I am fascinated by the battle with the troops of the North. I would like to complete my two year contract". He made his league debut on 26 August when coach Alberto Cavasin used him all the minutes in a 1–1 with Parma. He wore the number 10 shirt, scoring a brace in a 4–3 loss with Bologna and one in his last appearance for I Lupi, a 1–1 with Torino.

Dinamo București

After 12 years, Popescu returned to his native Romania in 2002, signing with Dinamo București, wearing the captain armband from his first game, a 5–0 win over Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț on 17 August. The following games were not so successful, Popescu's play and the team's results being disappointing in the eyes of the fans as he committed a handball after which a penalty was given in a loss with rivals Rapid București and in his last game that was a 2–0 loss with Oțelul Galați he had problems facing Mihai Guriță who scored the goals. After the game, the fans were chanting for Popescu to leave, telling Giani Kiriță who was the team's captain before Popescu's arrival to tell him to leave the club. Kiriță applauded the supporters, a gesture that did not go well with Popescu who said:"In his place, I would have done it differently". The next day, Popescu terminated his contract with Dinamo, saying:"I had to come to see for myself what is in Romanian football". He would describe his transfer to Dinamo as:"The mistake of my life".

Hannover 96

His final team of his career was Hannover 96 from Germany, making his Bundesliga debut on 8 February 2003 when coach Ralf Rangnick sent him on the field at half-time in order to replace Kostas Konstantinidis in a 4–2 victory against FC Nürnberg. He scored his only goal in the league when he opened the score in a 2–1 loss with Bayer Leverkusen. The last game of his career took place on 17 May which was a 2–2 with Borussia Mönchengladbach, that earned Hannover the point that mathematically saved them from relegation, announcing his retirement afterwards by saying:"I feel tired, there is no point in taking money without working for it until 2004".

Popescu was never outside the top four in the Romanian Footballer of the Year awards for 13 years from 1989 until 2001, winning it on six occasions.

International career

Gheorghe Popescu played 115 matches and scored 16 goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 20 September 1988 at age 20 under coach Emerich Jenei in a friendly which ended with a 3–0 win against Albania.

1990 World Cup

He played six matches and scored once with a header in a 1–0 victory against Bulgaria at the 1990 World Cup qualifiers. At the final tournament where he was used by coach Jenei all the minutes in all four matches, as Romania got eliminated by Ireland in the eight-finals. In the first game from the group stage he had a very appreciated performance in the 2–0 win over Soviet Union, the following day his agent Mircea Petescu presenting him a contract offer from Real Madrid which he eventually did not sign, choosing PSV Eindhoven. AC Milan captain, Franco Baresi said that he considered Popescu the best sweeper of the tournament.

1994 World Cup

He made seven appearances and scored one goal in a 4–1 victory with Cyprus at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. He was part of the "Golden Generation" that passed the group stage where they earned victories with Colombia and United States, afterwards defeating with a 3–2 victory Argentina in the eight-finals, being eliminated after the penalty shoot-out by Sweden in the quarter-finals of the final tournament, being used by coach Anghel Iordănescu all the minutes in all five games.

Euro 1996

Popescu played seven games, opening the score in a 3–2 win over Slovakia at the Euro 1996 qualifiers. He was used by Iordănescu in all three matches from the final tournament which was unsuccessful as they lost in front of France, Bulgaria and Spain.

1998 World Cup

At the 1998 World Cup qualifiers he made eight appearances, scoring one goal with Iceland, a hat-trick with Macedonia and four goals with Liechtenstein. Popescu was used as a starter by Iordănescu in all four games at the final tournament as they passed the group stage where they earned victories with Colombia and England, being defeated with 1–0 by Croatia in the eight-finals after a goal scored from a penalty by Davor Šuker which was awarded after a duel between Aljoša Asanović and Popescu.

Euro 2000

Popescu played nine games and scored one goal in a 7–0 over Liechtenstein at the Euro 2000 qualifiers. Jenei used him as a starter in all three group stage matches, in the last one he was captain as Hagi was suspended but he got injured after the first 30 minutes, being replaced with Miodrag Belodedici as The Tricolours defeated England with 3–2 and qualified to the quarter-finals where they lost with 2–0 in front of Italy, without Popescu playing.

Final years

In his final years of activity at the national team, Popescu played four games and netted once in a 1–1 with Georgia at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, playing in both legs of the play-off with Slovenia which was lost 3–2 on aggregate. He played four matches at the Euro 2004 qualifiers, the last one, a 5–2 home loss with Denmark on 29 March 2003 was his final appearance for Romania.

For representing his country at five final tournaments, Popescu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

After retirement

In 2000 he opened the "Gheorghe Popescu Football School" in Craiova which launched players like Ionuț Rada, Adrian Stoian, Sabrin Sburlea, Constantin Grecu or Ovidiu Burcă. For a while he also worked as a sports agent.

In 2003, Daniel Nanu released a book about him called Gheorghe Popescu - viața mea (Gheorghe Popescu - my life).

Personal life

He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi, as he married Hagi's wife's sister. His son, Nicolas is also a footballer.

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. 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.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National Cup		Other		Continental		Total
Club	Season	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 Eindhoven	1990–91	Eredivisie	30	5	3	1	–		2	0	32	6
	1991–92		29	7	1	0	–		3	0	32	7
	1992–93		24	6	2	0	1	0	6	0	30	6
	1993–94		23	5	3	0	–		1	1	24	6
	1994–95		2	0	0	0	–		0	0	2	0
	Total		108	23	9	1	1	0	12	1	130	25
Tottenham Hotspur	1994–95	Premier League	23	3	3	0	2	0	–		28	3
Barcelona	1995–96	La Liga	37	5	5	2	–		8	1	50	8
	1996–97	La Liga	29	4	5	0	2	0	8	1	44	5
	Total		66	9	10	2	2	0	16	2	94	13
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	1	0	14	0	43	2
	2000–01		24	0	3	0	–		15	0	42	0
	2001–02		1	0	–		–		3	0	4	0
	Total		111	6	19	3	1	0	48	0	179	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			495	64	41	6	6	0	88	3	630	73

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
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	Macedonia	1–0	3–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
8				2–0
9				3–0
10	29 March 1997	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Liechtenstein	2–0	8–0	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
11				3–0
12				6–0
13				8–0
14	6 June 1998	Stadionul Ilie Oană, Ploiești, 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