Dan Potocianu

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Dan Potocianu
Personal information
Full name Dan Ion Potocianu
Date of birth (1974-03-05) 5 March 1974 (age 51)
Place of birth Reșița, Romania
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position Defender
Team information
Current team
CSM Reșița (youth manager)
Youth career
–1991 CSM Reșița
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1991–1993 CSM Reșița 28 (0)
1993–1997 Național București 118 (6)
1997–2000 Servette 54 (2)
1999Basel (loan) 10 (0)
2000–2002 Național București 40 (1)
Total250(9)
International career
1990–1991 Romania U18 6 (0)
1992–1995 Romania U21 24 (1)
1997 Romania 1 (0)
Managerial career
2008–2009 FCM Reșița
2009–2010 CFR Timișoara
2014–2016 CSMȘ Reșița
2016–2022 CSMȘ Reșița (youth)
2017 CSM Reșița (assistant)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dan Ion Potocianu (born 5 March 1974) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a defender.

Contents

Club career

Potocianu was born on 5 March 1974 in Reșița, Romania. [1] [2] He began playing football in 1990 at Divizia B club CSM Reșița. [1] [3] In the 1991–92 season, the team earned promotion to the first league. [1] Subsequently, he made his Divizia A debut on 16 August 1992 under coach Ion Copăceanu in a 3–2 home win over Inter Sibiu. [1] [4]

In 1993, Potocianu went to Național București. [1] [2] [3] He played four games in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup edition, eliminating Partizan Belgrade and Chornomorets Odesa in the first rounds, the campaign ending after a 3–1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge. [1] [5] During his four-season spell with The Bankers, he helped the team finish twice runner-up in the league. [1] The team also reached the 1997 Cupa României final, but coach Florin Halagian did not use him in the 4–2 loss to Steaua București. [6]

Subsequently, Potocianu joined Servette, making his Nationalliga A debut on 5 July 1997 under coach Gérard Castella in a 2–2 draw against St. Gallen. [1] [2] [3] The team finished in second place at the end of the season. [1] In the first half of the 1998–99 season, he played 10 matches and scored once. [1] Afterwards he went to Basel for the second half, but Servette won the title without him. [1] [2] [3] At Basel, Potocianu played his first match under coach Guy Mathez in a 2–1 defeat to Servette. [1] [7] [8] During his short period with the club, Potocianu played 10 league games for Basel without scoring a goal. [1] [2] [9] He returned to Servette for the 1999–2000 season, totaling 64 matches with two goals in the Swiss league. [1]

Potocianu came back to Național, where in the 2001–02 season he helped the team earn a runner-up position in the league. [1] [2] [3] An injury forced him to retire in 2002 at the age of 28. [2] [10] [11] He has a total of 186 matches with seven goals in Divizia A, also totaling eight matches in European competitions. [1] [3] [12]

International career

From 1990 to 1995, Potocianu was consistently featured for Romania's under-18 and under-21 sides. [13]

He made one appearance for Romania, when on 6 September 1997, coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him in the 46th minute to replace Anton Doboș in a 8–1 away win against Liechtenstein in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. [14]

Managerial career

After ending his career, Potocianu coached teams such as FCM Reșița and CFR Timișoara in the Romanian lower leagues. [10] [15] He also coached juniors at Reșița. [16]

Honours

Player

CSM Reșița

Național București

Servette

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Dan Potocianu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Potocianu, fost jucător la FC Basel: "CFR are jucători mai tehnici și mai inventivi"" [Potocianu, former FC Basel player: "CFR has more technical and inventive players"] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ""Plătești și aerul pe care-l respiri!" Românul fost la FC Basel, șocat de ce a găsit în Elveția: "Mergeam să fac cumpărăturile în Franța sau Germania"" ["You pay for the air you breathe!" The Romanian former at FC Basel, shocked by what he found in Switzerland: "I was going to do my shopping in France or Germany"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 6 November 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  4. "CSM Reșița vs FC Inter Sibiu 3-2". Labtof. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  5. "Echipele noastre nu au mai eliminat-o pe Partizan din 1996! De atunci, sârbii n-au pierdut niciun meci din 6" [Our teams haven't eliminated Partizan since 1996! Since then, the Serbians have not lost a single match from 6] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
    "Dan Potocianu 1996/1997 UEFA Cup qualifiers". WorldFootball. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
    "Dan Potocianu 1996/1997 UEFA Cup". WorldFootball. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 "Romanian Cup – Season 1996–1997". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  7. Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" (13 March 1999). "Servette FC - FC Basel 2:1 (2:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv". Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  8. "Servette 2:1 FC Basel". WorldFootball. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  9. Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv” (2002). "Dan Potocianu - FCB statistic". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Romanul care a jucat la Basel, omul care a invins moartea in urma cu 7 ani, stie cum poate castiga Steaua diseara: "Faceti meciul vietii!"" [The Romanian who played in Basel, the man who defeated death 7 years ago, knows how Steaua can win tonight: "Play the match of your life!"] (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  11. "Povestea dramatică din spatele retragerii din fotbal a lui Dan Potocianu: "Am ieșit pe un câmp, am urlat și am zis că trebuie să lupt cu boala"" [The dramatic story behind Dan Potocianu's retirement from football: "I went out onto a field, screamed and said I had to fight the disease"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  12. Dan Potocianu at WorldFootball.net
  13. "Dan Potocianu profile". 11v11. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  14. "Dan Potocianu". European Football. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
    "Liechtenstein 1-8 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  15. "Potocianu a demisionat de la CFR Timișoara și a fost înlocuit de Florin Bugar" [Potocianu resigned from CFR Timișoara and was replaced by Florin Bugar] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
    "CSM Școlar schimbă antrenorul, nu și obiectivul! Promovarea – cu Leontin Doană! Dan Potocianu, trimis la juniori!" [CSM Școlar changes the coach, not the goal! Promotion – with Leontin Doană! Dan Potocianu, sent to the juniors!] (in Romanian). Expressdebanat.ro. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  16. "Dan Potocianu: "Ne așteaptă adversari mult mai puternici decât în etapa preliminară"" [Dan Potocianu: "We are facing much stronger opponents than in the preliminary stage"] (in Romanian). Frf.ro. 1 November 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2025.

Sources