Gabriel Popescu (footballer)

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Gabriel Popescu
Personal information
Date of birth (1973-12-25) 25 December 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth Craiova, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
–1992 Electroputere Craiova
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1992–1994 Electroputere Craiova 65 (0)
1995–1997 Universitatea Craiova 93 (15)
1998 Salamanca 15 (4)
1998–1999 Valencia 25 (1)
1999 Numancia 7 (1)
2000 Dinamo București 9 (0)
2000–2001 National București 47 (5)
2001 → Universitatea Craiova (loan) 8 (1)
2002–2004 Suwon Samsung Bluewings 59 (12)
2004 → National București (loan) 11 (1)
2005 JEF United Chiba 7 (1)
Total346(41)
International career
1993–1995 Romania U21 3 (0)
1996–1998 Romania 15 (1)
Managerial career
2011 Sportul Studențesc
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gabriel "Gabi" Popescu (born 25 December 1973) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Contents

Career

Popescu represented the Romania national team 15 times and scored one goal. The undoubted highlight of his international career was his appearances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he played in all four Romanian matches, including their dramatic 2–1 victory over England. However, during the round of 16 match against Croatia, he fouled Aljoša Asanović in the penalty area. Croatia was awarded a penalty which Davor Šuker scored. Romania lost 1 - 0 and was eliminated from the tournament.

Popescu began his career with Romanian side Universitatea Craiova, before moving to Spain where he played with three different La Liga clubs – UD Salamanca, Valencia CF and CD Numancia. After his Spanish spell he returned to Romania firstly with Dinamo București before joining city rivals National București. Popescu then joined Suwon Samsung Bluewings in June 2002, in a double deal that also saw Bosnian-born forward Slaviša Mitrović join the K-League club.

'Gabi', as he was known to Korean fans, made a great impression in the Suwon Samsung Bluewings midfield during his first season, scoring six times in his 24 appearances. He weighed in with another six strikes in the 2003 season to further endear himself to the Suwon Samsung Bluewings fans, but struggled with injury during the close season and was limited to a peripheral role during the first half of 2004.

Popescu was allowed to return to National București on a 6-month loan deal in the summer of 2004, where he linked up again with Slaviša Mitrović. At the end of the year, Popescu completed a switch to Japanese side JEF United Chiba.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition [1]
ClubSeasonLeagueNational CupLeague CupTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Electroputere Craiova 1992–93 Divizia A 160160
1993–94330330
1994–95160160
Total650650
Universitatea Craiova 1994–95Divizia A151151
1995–96302302
1996–97297297
1997–98195195
Total93159315
Salamanca 1997–98 La Liga 15500155
Valencia 1998–99La Liga25160311
Numancia 1999–2000La Liga7171
Dinamo București 1999–2000Divizia A9090
Naţional București 2000–01Divizia A181181
2001–02294294
Total475475
Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2002 K-League 246246
2003316316
20044040
Total59125912
Naţional București 2004–05Divizia A111111
JEF United Chiba 2005 J1 League 710075146
Career total33841607535146

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 199640
199741
199870
Total151
Score and result list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Popescu goal.
International goal scored by Gabriel Popescu
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
119 November 1997 Lluís Sitjar Stadium, Palma de Mallorca, SpainFlag of Spain.svg  Spain 1–11–1 Friendly

Honours

Valencia

Dinamo București

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

JEF United Chiba

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References

  1. ↑ Gabriel Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com
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