Octavian Popescu (footballer, born 1938)

For other people with the same name, see Octavian Popescu.

Octavian Popescu

Popescu (standing, second from left) with Ştiinţa Cluj
Personal information
Date of birth	(1938-04-25) 25 April 1938 (age 86)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1948–1959	Rapid București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1959–1960	Rapid București	7	(0)
1960–1963	Ştiinţa Cluj	85	(14)
1963–1967	Dinamo București	70	(15)
1967–1968	Jiul Petroşani	22	(4)
1968–1969	Rapid București	8	(3)
1969–1971	Mersin İdmanyurdu	30	(4)
Total		222	(40)
International career
1964	Romania	1	(1)
Managerial career
1972–1973	Dunărea Giurgiu
1973–1974	Progresul Brăila
1974–1975	Eskişehirspor
1975–1978	Romania Olympic
1978–1979	Mersin İdmanyurdu
1980–1984	1860 München II
1984	1860 München
1986	Malatyaspor
1991	Offenburger FV
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Octavian Popescu (born 25 April 1938) is a Romanian former footballer and coach known in Germany and Turkey as Popi or Pope.

Popescu acquired his coaching license at the German Sport University of Cologne and also worked as a coach instructor for the DFB Academy in Germany. ^[1] He is one of the founders of the IFTA International Footballtennis Association. ^[2]

Career

Born in Bucharest, Popescu started playing football for FC Rapid București. He joined Ştiinţa Cluj before moving to FC Dinamo București, where he won the league title twice with the club. He also played for CS Jiul Petroşani before returning to FC Rapid București in 1968. ^[3]

Popescu next moved to Turkey to join Mersin İdmanyurdu SK. ^[3] He made 30 appearances in the Süper Lig during the 1969–70 and 1970–71 seasons.

He made one appearance for Romania in which he scored in a friendly 2–1 win against Yugoslavia in 1964. ^{[4] [5]}

Following the end of his playing career, Popescu managed several clubs in Romania and Turkey including Eskişehirspor, ^[6] and the Romania Olympic team before he moved to West Germany, where he studied at the Sports Academy of Cologne which is now called the Hennes Weisweiler Academy. He was appointed manager of TSV 1860 München, ^[7] Malatyaspor, ^[8] and Offenburger FV in 1991. ^[9]

In 2014, Popescu was among the candidates for the Romanian FA presidency. ^[10]

Honours

Player

Dinamo București

• Divizia A (2): 1963–64, 1964–65 ^[11]
• Cupa României: 1963–64 ^[12]

References

1. "Die Teilnehmer des 30. Lehrgangs" (in German). DFB.de. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
2. "International Development of Futnet between 1987 and 2011". Futnet.eu. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
3. "Octavian Popescu acuza FRF ca ii ignora candidatura" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 1 November 2005.
4. "Football Match: Yugoslavia vs Romania". Eu-Football.info. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
5. "1964 Matches". RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
6. "Octavian 'Pope' Popescu Manager" (in Turkish). Mackolik.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
7. "Von Dschungelkämpfern und Partylöwen" (in German). Merkur-Online.de. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
8. "Futbol Tarihinden Bir Yaprak" (in Turkish). Malatyahaber.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
9. "Vereinsgeschichte Offenburger FV" (PDF) (in German). Offenburgerfv.de. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
10. "Al cincilea candidat la șefia FRF: Octavian Popescu, fost fotbalist la Dinamo și Rapid" (in Romanian). DigiSport.ro. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
11. "Campionii naționali (Divizia A winning squads)". RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
12. "Romanian Cup season 1963-64". RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 21 September 2018.

External links

• Octavian Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com
• Octavian Popescu at www.mackolik.com (in Turkish)