Dănuț Lupu (born 27 February 1967) is a

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 ...

n former football midfielder known for his dribbling ability.

Club career

Dănuț Lupu played football and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

simultaneously until the age of 14, when he decided to concentrate exclusively on his football career. He started to play professional football in 1985 at Dunărea Galați in the Romanian second league. In 1987 he was transferred at

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 ...

where he was wanted by coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...

, playing his first Divizia A match on 8 March 1987 which ended with a 2–0 win against FC Brașov. In his first two seasons at Dinamo, the club finished runner-up in the championship but succeeded to win in the 1989–90 season the Divizia A title, with Lupu contributing with 6 goals scored in 22 Divizia A matches and the cup in which he scored one goal in the 6–4 victory from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

against Steaua București, also the team reached the 1989–90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals with Lupu playing 7 games in the campaign. After the fall of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

in December 1989, Lupu moved to Greece and signed with Panathinaikos, winning with ''The Greens'' the championship, although he played there only 10 league games in which he scored one goal. During his time in Greece, he also had spells at

Korinthos Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...

and

OFI Crete OFI may refer to: * Overseas Filipino Investors, Filipino expatriates who contribute to the economy of the Philippines through remittances, buying property, and creating businesses * OFI Crete, a Greek association football club based on the islan ...

, gaining a total of 66 appearances with 5 goals scored in the

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

competition. In 1994, he came back in Romania at Rapid București, but after only two Divizia A games played he went to play for

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

in Italy, making 15

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 Cop ...

appearances in which he scored one goal in a 1–0 home victory in front of Reggiana. Then Lupu returned to play for a short while at Rapid, afterwards spending the next two seasons with Dinamo. In 1997, when his former coach from Dinamo and

became Rapid's coach, Lupu returned for a third spell and after finishing runner-up in the first season, he won the championship in the following one, contributing with 5 goals scored in 28 matches. In 2000 he returned for a third spell at Dinamo just for a short time in which he made his last Divizia A appearance on 27 August in a 2–1 loss in front of Oțelul Galați, having a total of 228 matches with 44 goals scored in the competition. Afterwards he played for Laminorul Roman in the Romanian second league and ended his career in Israel at Hapoel Tzafririm. In the European Cups, Lupu played for

, Panathinaikos and Rapid București a total of 39 matches in which he scored 3 goals (including 7 appearances in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

International career

Dănuț Lupu played 14 matches without scoring for

, making his debut on 11 October 1989 when coach Emerich Jenei sent him on the field in the 64th minute in order to replace

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 ...

in a 1990 World Cup qualifiers match which ended with a 3–0 loss against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, also appearing in the second leg which ended with a 3–1 victory. He appeared in two games at the

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 ...

, a 1–1 in the group stage against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and a 0–0 (5–4, after penalty kicks) loss against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the eight-finals. Lupu played four games at the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers, but was not part of the national team's squad at the final tournament, making his last appearance for the national team on 18 March 1998 in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Controversy

During Dinamo's stay in Dundee for a game against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, Dănuț Lupu was arrested for shoplifting, but was released after coach

went to the police station and convinced the prosecutor to not make him a criminal record. While playing for Panathinaikos, Lupu was arrested in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and spent two months and a half in jail, being accused of being the leader of a gang of Romanian thieves who had stolen cars in Greece. Lupu claims he was arrested because Panathinaikos's president Yiorgos Vardinogiannis wanted him to sign the termination of the contract and to give up insisting to receive his unpaid salaries. In 2005 he was caught at an airport from București with 79,000 undeclared

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s stashed in shoe boxes; also in the same year he was caught driving an unregistered car.

Personal life

His nephew, Valentin Balint is also a footballer who started his career at

Honours

Dinamo București * Divizia A: 1989–90 * Cupa României: 1989–90, 2000–01 Panathinaikos * Greek Championship:

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most imp ...

Rapid București * Divizia A: 1998–99 * Cupa României: 1997–98 * Supercupa României:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lupu, Danut 1967 births Living people Footballers from Galați Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers FC Dinamo București players FC Rapid București players Panathinaikos F.C. players Brescia Calcio players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Serie A players Liga I players Liga II players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Super League Greece players P.A.S. Korinthos players OFI Crete F.C. players Hapoel Tzafririm Holon F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Israel 1990 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football midfielders