Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

who played as a defender. He notably played in

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's ...

where he is a former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. He played for a string of European clubs in that period, including a four-year stint at

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

and winning the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. He also played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

with

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

and in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

with

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

. In his native country he played for Universitatea Craiova, Steaua București and

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

. Beside from his defending skills, he was also capable starting attacks His tactical knowledge as a defender made him a valuable team member in top European competitions until he reached his late-thirties. He was a key part of 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 the 1990s and earned 115 caps, scoring 16 goals. He was present at

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

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

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 ...

, 1998 World Cup and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. He is the brother-in-law of fellow

Romanian international The Romanian International, also known as BanuInvest International Championships, is an international badminton open held in Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Eu ...

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...

Club career

After playing six seasons for Universitatea Craiova, Popescu was loaned to Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest reaching the semi-finals of the

European Cup 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 competit ...

during their 1987–88 campaign. He moved abroad to the Netherlands in 1990, and signed for

at the request of

Sir Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, helping them to keep among the top Dutch sides, until he was transferred to

in the

on 9 September 1994 for a fee of £2.9million. He played 23 times in the Premier League and scored three goals as Spurs (who changed manager from

Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as part of the Argentina national team. He now runs ...

to Gerry Francis a few weeks after Popescu arrived) finished seventh in the league – their highest finish for five years. He also helped them to reach the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-finals, where they lost 4–1 to eventual cup winners Everton. However, after less than a year in England, he left Tottenham to sign for the Spanish club

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

for £3million, succeeding

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

in the team. He was made captain of the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

club, contributing to their

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

(domestic cup) glory in his first season and their

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

triumph in his second. After leaving Barcelona during the summer of 1997, he was transferred to

of Turkey, where he spent four years and won several major trophies, including the

in May 2000 – where

defeated

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, key rivals of his old club Tottenham, on penalties after a goalless draw in open play and he scored the final penalty shot in the penalty shootout. He spent the 2001–2002 season in Italy with

club

, before returning to his native Romania for a brief spell with

Dinamo Bucharest A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

, before winding up with a season in Germany with

. Popescu was never outside the top four in the

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

awards for 13 years from 1989 until 2001. He was recently voted into Romanian footballs all-time World Cup team.

International career

At international level, Popescu is Romania's all-time third most capped players with 115, in which he scored 16 goals. He played for his country in the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, and 1998 World Cups,

and

. He also entered the symbolic but exclusive circle of players with a century of caps.

Personal life

He is the brother-in-law of fellow

Tax evasion and imprisonment

On 4 March 2014, Popescu and seven others, among them

Mihai Stoica Mihai Stoica (born 12 April 1965), commonly known as Meme Stoica, is a former president of Oțelul Galați and former general manager of Unirea Urziceni. Since November 2010 until September 2011, Mihai Stoica was the manager of FCSB. He was fo ...

, were convicted by a Romanian appeals court of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

and

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

in connection with the transfer of football players from Romania to other countries. Popescu was sentenced to a jail term of three years and one month. He was released for good conduct on 4 November 2015, after serving half of his sentence, the books he wrote and published during his imprisonment also helping towards his reduced sentence as customary for Romanian law.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popescu goal''.

Honours

Steaua București *

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

: 1987–88 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

: 1987–88 PSV *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 1990–91, 1991–92 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Barcelona *

: 1996–97 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

: 1996–97 Galatasaray * 1.Lig: 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known a ...

: 1997 *

: 1999–2000 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Individual *

: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996

References

External links

Gica Popescu's International caps
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popescu, Gheorghe 1967 births Living people Romanian footballers Romania international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Germany Romanian expatriate footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bundesliga players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Süper Lig players Eredivisie players La Liga players Premier League players Serie A players Liga I players People from Calafat Association football sweepers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands CS Universitatea Craiova players FC Steaua București players FC Dinamo București players PSV Eindhoven players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players FC Barcelona players U.S. Lecce players Hannover 96 players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players FIFA Century Club Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Romanian white-collar criminals UEFA Cup winning players Romanian sports executives and administrators Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy

Club career

International career

Personal life

Tax evasion and imprisonment

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

References

Further reading

External links