Răzvan Ștefan Popa (born 4 January 1997) is a Romanian professional

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 le ...

. Mainly 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 ...

, he can also play as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Popa was born in Râmnicu Vâlcea, and was a

FC Sportul Studențesc București FC Sportul Studențesc, commonly referred to as Sportul is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, that last played at senior level in the Liga IV. Founded in 1916, Sportul Studențesc was one of the oldest Romanian clubs still ...

youth graduate. He made his Romanian

Liga I 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 ...

debut at 15 years and 2 months of age, when he was substituted in the stoppage time on 17 March 2012 against

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 Yekaterinbu ...

. In August 2013, Popa joined

Internazionale Milano Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

after the Italian side battled Chelsea for him. However, he only appeared for the Primavera team during the course of three seasons. On 21 July 2016, Popa signed a three-year contract with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. He made his debut for the club on 7 September, starting and scoring his team's only in a 1–2 home loss against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

for the season's

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 ...

. In September 2021, he was signed

as a free agent.

Honours

Universitatea Craiova *

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 ...

: 2017–18 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

: Runner-up

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* * * * 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Râmnicu Vâlcea Romanian footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Liga I players Segunda División players FC Sportul Studențesc București players CS Universitatea Craiova players Inter Milan players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players Real Zaragoza players Burgos CF footballers FC Dinamo București players Romanian expatriate footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain {{Romania-footy-midfielder-stub