Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former

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 ...

striker, who played for

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 ...

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in . The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to 1 ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

and

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

. He played for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

at the

1990 FIFA 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 Me ...

hosted by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, the

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

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

UEFA 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 ...

Club career

Răducioiu was a product of

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 ...

, former Dinamo coach, saw his skills and, as a feature of his philosophy towards football to promote young players, gave Răducioiu the chance to play at the highest level at the age of 17 years. By the beginning of 1988–1989, Răducioiu was first-choice in Lucescu's team. He made an impressive debut in European football by reaching the quarterfinals of the 1988–89 Cup Winners' Cup (ousted by

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

in the quarterfinals, on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

) and finishing second in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. By 1989–90, Răducioiu was one of Romania's finest players, and that year was to be the most significant of his early career. He won the Romanian championship and the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

(hat-trick in the final against Steaua), reaching the semifinals of the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, where Dinamo was defeated by

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

. After two seasons 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 ...

, Răducioiu joined

in 1993–94, making only seven appearances and scoring two goals, but winning the

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

. In 1994, he went to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

to play for

. Having scored his country's only goal in Euro96 manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

signed him for

in 1996. Most famously, he scored a goal against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

after being criticized by

for going shopping with his wife at

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

on a previous match day; a claim Răducioiu denies. Despite showing promise, he never adapted to the pace and competitive nature of the English game, making no real impact at Upton Park. He scored three goals during his spell with the Hammers. In addition to his goal against Manchester United he scored against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in the league. After his short underachieving spell at the East London club, having fallen out with manager Redknapp, he was transferred back to Espanyol, having scored just two goals 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 ...

. Răducioiu retired in 2004, after a short stint with modest

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

side

US Créteil-Lusitanos Union Sportive Créteil-Lusitanos (commonly referred to as US Créteil, USC, or simply Créteil) is a French football club based in Créteil, a southeastern suburb of Paris. The club was founded in 1936 and currently play in the Championnat Nati ...

. He had a short spell as a sports agent and as sporting director at Dinamo Bucharest. He is one of the three professional football players (alongside

Christian Poulsen Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen (born 28 February 1980) is a Danish former footballer. After starting his career with Holbæk, he played for a number of European clubs as a defensive midfielder, winning the Danish Superliga championship with F. ...

and Stevan Jovetic) to have plied his trade in the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France).

International career

Răducioiu debuted for

in a friendly game against Israel on 25 April 1990, playing for 58 minutes before he was replaced. Răducioiu made his

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

debut in

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 ...

against the Soviet Union at the

Stadio San Nicola The Stadio San Nicola ( en, Saint Nicholas Stadium) is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by Renzo Piano in Bari, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of S.S.C. Bari. The stadium's design resembles ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, aged 20. Appearing in three games for

, he finished the tournament without scoring, and Romania fell to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

in the second round, in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. Răducioiu had to wait until the last game of 1990 to score his first goal. He scored for

in a 6–0 victory over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

on 5 December in a

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

match for

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

, only to double his account in the next game in

, as the Romanians won 3–1. The year 1993 would be significantly more successful for Răducioiu internationally, as he scored two goals against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in Košice, even though Romania lost 5–2. Răducioiu's second goal came in the 55th minute, to tie the game at 2–2. However, Slovak player Peter Dubovsky scored a second half

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

to beat

. His first goal came just four minutes after Răducioiu's second, and in the final eight minutes, Dubosky scored twice to win the game, even though the Czechoslovak had had two players sent off. An even greater success for Răducioiu would come three months later when in

Toftir Toftir ( da, Tofte) is a village in Nes Municipality on the island of Eysturoy, in the Faroe Islands. It is part of a chain of villages stretching over a distance of 10 kilometres on the east side of Skálafjørður (fjord) on Eysturoy island. Th ...

, he managed to score all four of Romania's goals against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, becoming the first Romanian player to score four goals for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

in modern times, a record equaled only by

Gheorghe Popescu Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football who played as a defender. He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in tha ...

in 1997 against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

. Răducioiu also scored a penalty kick against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in the qualifiers for the

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 ...

. In the last group game of qualifying, he scored another goal against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

finishing a nice team effort after a pass from

Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with S ...

. This late goal, coming in the 83rd minute, sent Romania to the top of its group from the potential third place in the case that the game had ended 1–0, and subsequently to the

. At the

, Răducioiu scored two goals against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

during the qualifying round. In the quarterfinal against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, he first equalized Sweden's 0–1 lead in the 88th minute of regular time, taking the game to extra time, where he put Romania ahead 2–1 in the first period. Shortly thereafter, Sweden's

Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina, and Valen ...

was sent off after his second yellow card, but despite this

Kennet Andersson Bernt Kennet Andersson (born 6 October 1967) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Starting off his career with IFK Eskilstuna in the mid-1980s, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Belgium, France, Italy, ...

equalized the game in the 115th minute, leading to a shootout. Răducioiu scored Romania's first penalty attempt after Sweden had missed its first, but Romania was eliminated after missing two attempts out of six. Still, Răducioiu's four tournament goals helped

to its most successful

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

campaign ever. At the

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 ...

, as Romania lost all three group stage matches, Răducioiu netted the nation's only goal, in a 1–2 loss against

. Overall he won 40 caps between April 1990 and June 1996.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.''

Honours

Club

;Dinamo Bucharest *

Romanian League 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 ...

: 1989–90 *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: 1985–86, 1989–90 ;A.C. Milan *

: 1993–94 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

: 1993–94 * Intercontinental Cup: Runner-up

;VfB Stuttgart *

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 ...

: Runner-up 1997–98

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raducioiu, Florin 1970 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football forwards A.C. Milan players Expatriate footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England AS Monaco FC players US Créteil-Lusitanos players S.S.C. Bari players Brescia Calcio players Hellas Verona F.C. players VfB Stuttgart players West Ham United F.C. players La Liga players Expatriate footballers in Spain FC Dinamo București players RCD Espanyol footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players Expatriate footballers in England Bundesliga players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Monaco Liga I players Ligue 1 players Expatriate footballers in France Naturalised citizens of Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain UEFA Champions League winning players Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France