Lucian Ilie (born 14 October 1967) is a retired

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 ...

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 for

Rapid Bucharest Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

, in Sweden for Jönköpings Södra, and Belgian side

K.V. Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often simply called KV Mechelen () or KVM, or by their former French name FC Malinois, is a Belgian professional football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp province. KV Mechelen plays in the ...

, in the Netherlands for FC Wageningen, FC Groningen,

BV Veendam Sportclub Veendam () was a Dutch professional association football club based in Veendam, province of Groningen. Founded on 4 September 1894 as Look-Out, it became P.J. Veendam in 1909, Veendam in 1910, SC Veendam in 1974, BV Veendam in 1997 a ...

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a tot ...

and DVS '33. In 1989, while playing for

, after a match in Sweden against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

, Lucian Ilie alongside teammates Gabriel Ciolponea and Alexandru Aprodu fled from the hotel and asked for political asylum in Sweden, they were three of the few Romanian players who fled the country to escape the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

References

External links

* 1967 births Living people Romanian footballers FC Rapid București players K.V. Mechelen players FC Wageningen players PEC Zwolle players FC Groningen players SC Veendam players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Romanian expatriate footballers People from Dâmbovița County Jönköpings Södra IF players Liga I players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Association football midfielders Romanian defectors DVS '33 players {{Romania-footy-midfielder-stub