Cătălin Răcănel (born 23 September 1976) 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 ...

and manager.

Career

Born

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, Răcănel grew up in Germany and played for the youth teams of SG Erbach and

FC Homburg Fußball-Club 08 Homburg or simply FC Homburg is a German association football club based in Homburg, Saarland, that competes in the Regionalliga Südwest. History The club was founded on 15 June 1908 as ''Fussball Club Homburg'' by a group o ...

. His first senior club station was

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

side

Borussia Neunkirchen Borussia VfB Neunkirchen is a German association football club based in Neunkirchen, Saarland. The club ''SC Borussia Neunkirchen'' was founded out of the 1907 merger of ''FC 1905 Borussia'' and ''SC Neunkirchen''. History From 1912 through ...

. In 1998, Răcănel left for

SV Elversberg SpVgg 07 Elversberg is a Football in Germany, German association football club, located in Spiesen-Elversberg, Saarland. The club plays in the 2. Bundesliga from the 2023–24 2. Bundesliga, 2023–24 season following promotion from the 3. Liga ...

in the same league. He played in 29 matches for the club and scored two goals. After only one year in Elversberg, he left for

SV Eintracht Trier 05 SV Eintracht-Trier 05 e. V., commonly known as Eintracht Trier (), is a German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club was established on 11 March 1948 through the merger of Westmark 05 Trier and Eintracht Trier ...

who also played in

Regionalliga West/Südwest The Regionalliga West/Südwest was the third tier of the German football league system in the states of Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-Westfalen from 1994 to 2000. Overview The Regionalliga West/Südwest was formed in 1994 to form a ...

. At the start of the 2001–02 season, Răcănel signed for newly promoted

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 ...

side

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

. However, following an injury, he played only seven Bundesliga matches. In his second year at St. Pauli, he played another seven matches in the 2. Bundesliga. At the end of the season he returned to Eintracht Trier, playing in 65 matches over the next two seasons. After Trier's relegation from 2. Bundesliga, Răcănel moved to

LR Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a football in Germany, German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after th ...

where he also was a regular starter, but left the club after they were relegated from 2nd Bundesliga as well. Răcănel signed for fourth-tier side

Sachsen Leipzig FC Sachsen Leipzig was a German football club from the Leutzsch district of Leipzig, Saxony. The club continued the traditions of BSG Chemie Leipzig. The club officially dissolved in 2011. Although several successor sides were established, on ...

in the

NOFV-Oberliga The NOFV- Oberliga is a division at step 5 of the German football league system. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became the successor of the DDR-Oberliga, and functions today as a 5th division in the former territory of East Germany and the ...

. In 40 matches for Leipzig Răcănel scored five goals. In June 2008, Răcănel signed for

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

side

1. FC Magdeburg 1. FC Magdeburg is a German Association football Football club (association football), club based in Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 from the football department of the Sports club (East Germany), sports club ''SC Magdeburg'' and has bee ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Racanel, Catalin 1976 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate football managers SV Elversberg players SV Eintracht Trier 05 players FC St. Pauli players Rot Weiss Ahlen players FC Sachsen Leipzig players 1. FC Magdeburg players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Borussia Neunkirchen players Borussia Neunkirchen managers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Bucharest