Club career
Vlaicu was born on 3 June 1965 in Șimian, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1979, aged 14 at local club Mecanizatorul. [1] [2] [3] He started his senior career at Mecanizatorul, going afterwards to Armata Craiova, and then in 1986 to Divizia C club UM Timișoara. [1] [2] [3]
In 1987, Vlaicu signed with Politehnica Timișoara where coach Ion Ionescu gave him his Divizia A debut on 14 May 1988 in a 6–0 away loss to Dinamo București. [1] [2] [3] At the end of his first season, the team was relegated to Divizia B, but he stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back after one year, contributing with four goals scored, including one in a 3–1 West derby victory against UTA Arad. [1] [4] He played four matches in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup edition under coach Constantin Rădulescu, as in the first round they got past Atlético Madrid with 2–1 on aggregate, being eliminated in the next round by Sporting Lisbon against whom he scored once. [1] [3] [5] Subsequently, the club reached the 1992 Cupa României final, where coach Ionescu used him the entire match in the loss at the penalty shoot-out to Steaua București, Vlaicu missing his spot kick. [1] [6]
Vlaicu was transferred in 1992 by the 1991 European Champions Red Star Belgrade. [1] [2] [3] He left the Yugoslavs after only half a season to return to Politehnica, but they still managed to win the Yugoslavia Cup without him. [1] [2] The White-Purples were relegated at the end of the 1993–94 season, Vlaicu spending one more year with them in Divizia B. [1] In 1995 he moved to Hungary to play for Békéscsaba, making his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut on 10 May under coach József Pásztor in a 0–0 draw against Újpest. [7] [8] Five days later, Vlaicu scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw against Győr. [7] He made his last Nemzeti Bajnokság I on 23 June 1996 in a 3–1 home win over Győr, having a total of 14 games with two goals scored in the competition. [1] [7] Subsequently, he made a third comeback at Politehnica. [1] [2] In the 1996–97 season the club was relegated once again to the second division, where Vlaicu spent another one and a half years. [1] [2]
In 1999 he signed a contract with Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Divizia B. [1] [9] In April 2000, together with 16 other players, Vlaicu accused the board of inducing the players to lose a match against Chimica Târnăveni. [9] After examining the case, the Romanian Football Federation punished the clubs with mutual walkovers for both league matches and deducted six points from Drobeta-Turnu Severin. [9] He then moved to UM Timișoara, managing to earn promotion to the first league in the 2000–01 season. [1] [2] Vlaicu made his last Divizia A appearance on 1 June 2002 in UM's 1–0 home loss to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, having a total of 214 matches with 19 goals scored in the competition. [1] [2] He ended his career one year later, playing with UM and CFR Timișoara in the Romanian lower leagues. [1] [2]
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