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 lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Marcel Răducanu was born in

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 ...

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 Francisc Fabian (born 21 October 1917) was a Romanian football Forward (association football), striker. After he retired from playing football he worked at FCSB, Steaua Bucureşti's youth center where he taught and formed generations of players, ...

. Răducanu 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 22 April 1973, playing for Steaua in a 2–0 loss against

CSM Reșița Asociația Club Sportiv Muncitoresc Reșița (), commonly known as CSM Reșița or simply as Reșița, is a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Reșița, Caraș-Severin County, which competes in the Liga II. The club was foun ...

. He helped '' The Military Men'' win The Double in the 1975–76 season, contributing with 17 goals in the 31

matches he was used by coach

Emerich Jenei Emerich Alexandru Jenei (also known as Emeric Jenei or Imre Jenei; 22 March 1937) is a Romanian former football player and manager. He is considered one of Romania's best managers, alongside Ştefan Kovács, Mircea Lucescu, and Anghel Iordăn ...

who also used him until the 63rd minute when he replaced him with

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

in the 1–0 victory against CSU Galați from the

1976 Cupa României final The 1976 Cupa României Final was the 38th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Steaua București and CSU Galaţi, and was won by Steaua București after a game with only one goal. It was the ...

. He won another title under the guidance of Jenei 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 was used by coach

Gheorghe Constantin Gheorghe Constantin (14 December 1932 – 9 March 2010) was a Romanian footballer and coach, nicknamed 'The Professor' and a symbol of Steaua București. Playing career Constantin began his career with Unirea Tricolor's youth team, and short ...

in all the minutes from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, managing to score two goals in the 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 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 ...

, Răducanu scored one of his most beautiful goals after showing his dribbling abilities in front of Young Boys' 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 (), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy (), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian player adjudged to have been the best during a calendar yea ...

, also in the same year he was nominated for the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived ...

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

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. In his native

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 ...

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 ...

, as he was a

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

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 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

clubs, and as a result was suspended by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

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

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

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 and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

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 professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. 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, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, these performances made sports magazine ''

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

'' 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 Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

with

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

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'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

'' 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

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). With 878 games, he is the manager who has the most matches in the Liga I, R ...

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

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

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 , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and a 2–0 victory in the second leg against

. He played both games of the

1977–80 Balkan Cup The 1977–80 Balkan Cup, was the 12th Balkan Cup football tournament. It was the first to have a group stage involving the five teams split into two groups, one of three teams and the other of two, with the winner of each one meeting in the fin ...

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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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

Răducanu coached

Türkgücü München Türkgücü München () is a German association football club from 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. Türkischer S ...

in the 1992–93

Landesliga Bayern-Süd The Landesliga Bayern-Süd () 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, until the introduction of the Reg ...

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

and

Mario Götze Mario Götze (; born 3 June 1992) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

trained at his academy when he was 10 years old.

Personal life

His uncle, Marin Voinea was also a footballer.

Honours

Club

Steaua București *

: 1975–76, 1977–78 *

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 ...

: 1975–76, 1978–79 FC Zürich * Promotion Nationalliga A: 1988-89 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup (officially ''Coupe Balkanique de Football'') 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. ...

: 1977–80

Individual

: 1980 *''

Team of the Season: 1982–83