Daniel Claudiu Prodan (23 March 1972 – 16 November 2016) was a Romanian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played mainly as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. In a career marred by injuries, he played mainly for Steaua București and represented the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in one

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in Satu Mare, Prodan came to prominence with national giants

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

, having signed in late 1992 from his hometown side

FC Olimpia Satu Mare Fotbal Club Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare, commonly known as Olimpia Satu Mare or simply as Olimpia, is a Romanian professional football club from Satu Mare, Satu Mare County, Romania, founded on 5 May 1921, re-founded in 2010 and 2018. The club pl ...

. With the capital club, he won five consecutive

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

titles, almost always featuring as a starter; his debut in the league came on 8 November in a 3–1 win at

FC Farul Constanța FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

, aged 20.Daniel Prodan şi "golul de aur". Are în palmares cinci titluri şi o Cupă a României cu Steaua (Daniel Prodan and the "golden goal". He also won five titles and one Romanian Cup with Steaua)
Adevărul, 10 June 2013 (in Romanian) In January 1997, Prodan moved to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

with Atlético Madrid. He scored four

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

goals in only half a season in 1996–97 (17 matches), and appeared in the same number of games in the next. However, it was noted that his disciplinary record was poor, including two red cards. In the summer of 1998, Prodan joined Rangers (a club against which he had scored a memorable goal for Steaua in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in 1995)Stephen Halliday: The tragic death of Daniel Prodan
the Scotsman, 18 November 2016 for £2.2 million, but made no first-team appearances in two-and-a-half years in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

due to a serious knee injury, which he sustained whilst with the ''Colchoneros''. Rangers' doctor, Stewart Hillis, later revealed that no medical had been conducted, and the transfer was rushed to completion on the strength of falsified documents; the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

club threatened to sue Atlético Madrid, but backed down and released the player in January 2001. During the last five years of his career – Rangers included – Prodan only appeared in 33 matches combined while representing four teams, retiring at the age of 31 with

FC Progresul București Fotbal Club Progresul București, commonly known as Progresul București or simply as Progresul, was a Romanian football club based in Bucharest. The team was founded in 1944 as ''B.N.R. București'', being the team of the National Bank of Roma ...

International career

Prodan won 54

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

between 1993 and 2001, and was in the squads for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

(playing every minute at the tournament as the team reached the quarter-finals) and

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. His only international goal arrived on 12 November 1994, as he contributed with the winner in a 3–2 victory against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

for the latter competition's qualifiers in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, with the points helping Romania qualify for the finals.

Personal life

Prodan's younger brother, Ciprian, was also a footballer. On 16 November 2016, Daniel died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

at the age of 44. The stadium from Satu Mare known as ''Stadionul Olimpia'' was renamed in February 2017 as Stadionul Daniel Prodan in his honor.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prodan, Daniel 1972 births 2016 deaths Sportspeople from Satu Mare Romanian footballers Association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players FC Olimpia Satu Mare players FC Steaua București players AFC Rocar București players FC Progresul București players La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Rangers F.C. players Serie B players A.C.R. Messina players Romania under-21 international footballers Romania international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland