Marcel Răducanu (born 21 October 1954) 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 le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Marcel Răducanu was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

on 21 October 1954. He grew up in the Pantelimon neighborhood and started to play organised football at the age of 7 at Progresul București, after which at the age of 9 and a half he moved at Steaua București's youth center where he was coached by Francisc Fabian. Răducanu made his

Divizia A 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 on 22 April 1973, playing for Steaua in a 2–0 loss against

CSM Reșița Clubul Sportiv Muncitoresc Reșița (), commonly known as CSM Reșița or simply as Reșița, is a professional football club based in Reșița, Romania, currently playing in the Liga III. The club was founded on 25 May 1926 as ''UD (Uzinele � ...

. He won The Double in the 1975–76 season, contributing with 17 goals in 31

matches. He won another title in the 1977–78 season for which he contributed with 18 goals in 31 matches and a cup in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

in which he scored two goals in the final which ended 3–0 against Sportul Studențesc București. Răducanu also played 11 matches in which he scored 5 goals in European competitions for Steaua and in the 6–0 victory against Young Boys from the

1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1979–80 season was the 20th season of the European Cup Winners' Cup, a football tournament organised by UEFA for the cup winners from each of its member associations. The competition was won by Spanish club Valencia, who beat Arsenal of Engla ...

, Răducanu scored one of his most beautiful goals after showing his dribbling abilities in front of Young Boys's defense, the Swiss goalkeeper, Walter Eichenberger saying in an interview years later after that match:"He humiliated us and laughed at us". Răducanu has a total of 229

appearances in which he scored 94 goals and in 1980 he was the

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

, also in the same year he was nominated for the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...

. In the summer of 1981 he defected following a match in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. In his native

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 ...

this act was considered a

desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ar ...

, as he was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the Army. Therefore, he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in his absence. Once in

he signed with both

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

clubs, and as a result was suspended by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

for one year. In order to have his services, Borussia Dortmund paid half a million

deutschmark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

s to the Hannover club, and Răducanu made his debut in

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

on 20 August 1982 under coach

Karl-Heinz Feldkamp Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 2 June 1934) is a German retired football manager and player. Feldkamp started coaching in 1968. In Germany, he coached Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and Eintracht Frankfurt, among others. He previously coac ...

in a 1–1 against

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 ...

. In his first season, Răducanu scored 9 goals in 26 matches, including two goals, one from a free kick and one after a series of dribbles in a 4–4 against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, these performances made sports magazine ''

Kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' include him in the team of the

1982–83 Bundesliga The 1982–83 Bundesliga was the 20th season of the Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 17 August 1982 and ended on 4 June 1983. Hamburger SV were the defending champions. Competition modus Every team played two games ...

season. Between 1982 and 1988, he played a total of 163 games in

, scoring 31 goals and made 5 appearances in European competitions. In 1988 Răducanu signed a contract in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

with

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

where he played 47 matches, scoring 12 goals and won the promotion to the top league Nationalliga A via the playoffs with FC Zürich. In 2022, the German newspaper, ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'' included Răducanu in

's best 50 players of all time, placing him on the 50th position. A book about him was written by George Coca Lob, called ''Marcel Răducanu. Talent, fenomen și legendă'' ''(Marcel Răducanu. Talent, phenomenon and legend)''.

International career

Marcel Răducanu played 18 games and scored 3 goals for

, making his debut on 13 May 1979 when coach

Florin Halagian Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname ''Armeanul'' (The Armenian). He is the manager who has the most matches in Liga I with 878 games consist ...

sent him on the field in the 65th minute in order to replace Constantin Stan in a 1–1 against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

at the Euro 1980 qualifiers. He played another two games at the Euro 1980 qualifiers scoring a goal in each of them, a 2–1 loss against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and a 2–0 victory in the second leg against

. He played both games of the 1977–80 Balkan Cup final which was won with 4–3 on aggregate against

. Marcel Răducanu played four games at the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, including a 2–1 victory against

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 ...

in which he opened the score.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Răducanu goal''.

Coaching career

Marcel Răducanu coached

Türkgücü München Türkgücü München is a German association football club from the city of Munich, Bavaria. The club, which is based in the Turkish community of Munich, was formed in 2009 in a merger of Türkischer SV 1975 München and ATA Spor München. Tür ...

in the 1992–93

Landesliga Bayern-Süd The Landesliga Bayern-Süd ( en, State League Bavaria-South) was the sixth tier of the German football league system in southern Bavaria. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga (Third League) in 2008, it was the fifth tier of the league system, un ...

season. Since 1994, he has run a football school in

and

Mario Götze Mario Götze (born 3 June 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. Although his favoured position is that of a playmaker, Götze has also played as a false nin ...

trained at his academy when he was 10 years old.

Personal life

His uncle,

Marin Voinea Marin Voinea (11 September 1935 – 19 April 2021) was a Romanian footballer who played as a forward. His nephew, Marcel Răducanu was also a footballer. International career Marin Voinea played three games at international level for Romania, ...

was also a footballer.

Honours

Club

Steaua București *

: 1975–76, 1977–78 *

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 ...

: 1975–76, 1978–79 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Romania, ...

: 1977–80

Individual

: 1980 *

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

(27th place)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raducanu, Marcel 1954 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian footballers Olympic footballers of Romania Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers FC Steaua București players Borussia Dortmund players FC Zürich players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate footballers in West Germany Romanian defectors Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Liga I players Bundesliga players Association football midfielders Romanian football managers Expatriate football managers in Germany