Viorel Năstase (born 7 October 1953) is a Romanian former 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 lea ...

who played as a forward.

Club career

Viorel Năstase was born on 7 October 1953 in București, Romania and started to play football in the 1969–70 Divizia B season for Progresul București. In the following season he made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 7 October 1953 in a 2–1 away loss against Farul Constanța, having scored a total of 9 goals by the end of the season, being partner in the team's offence with Mircea Sandu. Afterwards he went to play for Steaua București for eight seasons, in the first one taking part in the club's

1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1971–72 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers, who defeated Dynamo Moscow in the final. Preliminary round First leg ---- Second leg ''4–4 on aggregate; Austria Wien won on away goa ...

campaign, playing five games as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and

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against whom he scored three goals, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the

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by Bayern Munich. He won two Divizia A titles with '' The Military Men'' in the 1975–76 and 1977–78 seasons, being used by coach Emerich Jenei in 21 matches in which he scored four goals in the first one and in 12 games in which he scored six goals in the second. He also helped Steaua București win two

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

and played for the club in one more match against Barcelona in which he scored a goal from the 1977–78 UEFA Cup edition, however the game was lost with 5–1. He defected from Romania's communist regime to Switzerland where he asked for

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in 1979 after a game between Steaua and Young Boys Bern from the

1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1979–80 season was the 20th season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup, a association football, football tournament organised by UEFA for the cup winners from each of its member associations. The competition was won by Spa ...

. After being suspended one year from playing football which was a rule for players who defect from the

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to the

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, he went to play in

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Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club, 1860 Munich where he was the team's top-goalscorer in the 1980–81 season with 14 goals in 23 matches, including a hat-trick against Bayer Uerdingen, being partner in the offence with Rudi Völler, however the team relegated at the end of the season and also coach Carl-Heinz Rühl wanted to throw him out of the team before the start of the season because of his drunken escapades in bars. After playing two more games in the 1981–82 2. Bundesliga for 1860 Munich, he was transferred for 400.000

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in Italy at

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club,

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where he was brought to replace Massimo Palanca, however during his three seasons spent at the club, of which the last was in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, Năstase scored only three goals as his performance was affected by his excessive nightlife activity, getting drunk in parties and clubs. After three more games played in the 1984–85 Austrian Bundesliga season at SV Salzburg, Năstase retired from playing football at age 31. Viorel Năstase has a total of 193 matches and 86 goals scored in Divizia A, 23 matches and 14 goals scored in Bundesliga, 23 games and two goals scored in Serie A and 6 games played with four goals scored in European competitions.

International career

Năstase played one game at international level for

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

on 12 May 1976 under coach Ștefan Kovács in a 1–0 loss against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

from the 1973–76 Balkan Cup final.

Honours

Progresul București * Divizia B: 1969–70 Steaua București *

: 1975–76, 1977–78 *

: 1975–76, 1978–79 * Torneo di Viareggio Third place:

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nastase, Viorel 1953 births Living people Romanian defectors Romanian men's footballers Footballers from Bucharest Men's association football forwards Romania men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Liga I players Liga II players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players FCSB players FC Progresul București players TSV 1860 Munich players US Catanzaro 1929 players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria 20th-century Romanian sportsmen