Gheorghe Hagi

Gheorghe Hagi
Gheorghe Hagi1.jpg
Personal information
Full name Gheorghe Hagi
Date of birth 5 February 1965 (1965-02-05) (age 44)
Place of birth    Săcele, Constanţa, Romania
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Playing position Coach (former Midfielder)
Youth clubs
1978–1980
1980–1981
1981–1982		 Farul Constanţa
Luceafărul Bucureşti
Farul Constanţa
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1982–1983
1983–1987
1987–1990
1990–1992
1992–1994
1994–1996
1996–2001		 Farul Constanţa
Sportul Studenţesc
Steaua Bucureşti
Real Madrid
Brescia Calcio
FC Barcelona
Galatasaray
Total		 018 00(7)
107 0(58)
097 0(76)
063 0(20)
061 0(15)
035 00(7)
132 0(59)
513 (237)   
National team2
1983–2000 Romania 125 0(35)
Teams managed
2001
2003
2004–2005
2006
2007		 Romania
Bursaspor
Galatasaray
FCU Politehnica Timişoara
Steaua Bucureşti

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 12 June 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 12 June 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Gheorghe Hagi (pronounced [ˈge̯or.ge ˈha.ʤi] in Romanian; born February 5, 1965 in Săcele), is a Romanian former football player. He was famous for his passing, close control and long shots.

Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he is considered a hero in his homeland as well as in Turkey. He has won his country's "Player of the Year" award six times, and was recently named Romanian football player of the century.

He played for the Romanian national team in three World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, as well as in three European Football Championships in 1984, 1996 and 2000. He won a total of 125 caps for Romania, being ranked second after Dorinel Munteanu, and scored 35 goals, being ranked first.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Romania by the Romanian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]. Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

In March 2004, he was named among the top 125 living footballers by Pelé.

Contents

Club career

He started his career playing for the youth teams of Farul Constanţa in the 1970s, before being selected by the Romanian Football Federation to join the squad of Luceafărul Bucureşti in 1980 for two years. In 1982 he returned to Constanţa, but one year later, aged 18, he was prepared to make the step to a top team. He was originally directed to Universitatea Craiova, but chose Sportul Studenţesc of Bucharest instead.

In the winter of 1987 Hagi was transferred to Romanian giants Steaua Bucureşti as the team prepared their European Super Cup final against FC Dynamo Kyiv. The original contract was for one game only, the final. However after winning the trophy, Hagi scoring the only goal of the final, Steaua did not want to release him back to Sportul Studenţesc and retained him for the next years. During his Steaua years, (1987 - 1990), Hagi played 97 Liga I games, scoring 76 goals. He and the team reached the European Cup semifinal in 1988 and the final in the following year, champions of Romania in 1987, 1988 and 1989 and winning the Romania Cup in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

After the 1990 World Cup, he was signed by Real Madrid. The La Liga side paid $4.3 million to Steaua for him. Hagi played two seasons with Real Madrid and then was sold to Brescia Calcio.

Hagi helped Brescia Calcio win the Italian Serie B and get promoted to Serie A, but in the next season the club relegated back to Serie B, and after performing memorably on the 1994 World Cup, Hagi was signed by FC Barcelona.

After two years at FC Barcelona, Hagi signed for Galatasaray S.K.. at Galatasaray, he was both successful and highly popular among the Turkish supporters of the Istanbul side. Hagi and manager Fatih Terim built a team that would win four league titles. In 2000 was Hagi and Galatasaray's best year, with the Turkish side, lead by Hagi, managed to win the UEFA Cup after defeating Arsenal and then the European Super Cup Hagi's former club, Real Madrid. and win it, for the first time in Turkey's history. The mass hysteria caused by this win in Istanbul raised Hagi's popularity even further with the fans and made French ex-international Luis Fernández to say that "Hagi is like wine, the older it gets, the better it is". At 35 years of age, Hagi was living his career's best, winning every possible trophy with Galatasaray in 2000. When he retired in 2001, he remained one of the most beloved players in the Turkish and Romanian championships.

National team

Hagi made his debut for the Romania national team at the age of 18 in 1983 in a game against Norway played in Oslo. He was part of the Romanian team until 2000.

Hagi led the Romanian team to its best ever international performance at the 1994 World Cup, where the team reached the quarterfinals before Sweden ended their run after winning the penalty shoot-out. Hagi scored three times in the tournament, including a memorable goal in their 3-2 surprise defeat of South American powerhouse and previous runners-up Argentina. In the first of Romania's group stage matches, against Colombia, Hagi scored one of the most memorable goals of that tournament, curling in a 40-yard lob over Colombian goalkeeper Oscar Córdoba who was caught out of position. He was named in the Team of the Tournament.

Four years later, after the 1998 World Cup, Hagi decided to retire from the national team, only to change his mind after few months and play at the 2000 European Football Championship.

Hagi retired from professional football in 2001, age 36, in a game called "Gala Hagi" on the 24th of April. He still holds the record as Romanian national team top scorer.

Career as coach

In 2001 Hagi was named the manager of Romania, replacing Ladislau Bölöni, who left the squad to coach Sporting Clube de Portugal. However, after failing to qualify the team for the World Cup, Hagi was sacked. His only notable achievement during the six months as Romania's manager was the win in Budapest against Hungary, the first of this kind for the Romania national football team.

In 2003, Hagi took over as coach of Turkish first division side Bursaspor, but left the club after a disappointing start to the season. He then became manager of Galatasaray in 2004, leading the team to the Turkish Cup in 2005 with 5-1 as a score vs. their rivals Fenerbahçe SK

Romanian team Steaua Bucureşti wanted to hire him in the summer of 2005, but Hagi's requested wage could not be met by the Romanian champions. Hagi became manager of FCU Politehnica Timişoara instead, and after a string of bad results and disagreements with the management, he left the club after a few months. Constanţa's main stadium used to bear his name, but the name was changed after Hagi signed with FCU Politehnica Timişoara.[1]

From June 2007 to September 20th (for 2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days), Hagi coached Steaua Bucuresti, had a mediocre start in the internal championship mainly due to the large number of unavailable injured players, managed to qualify the team for the second time in line to Champions League Groups passing two qualifying rounds. He resigned due to a long series of conflicts with the team's owner Gigi Becali, which also happens to be his godson. The main reason for resigning was the owner's policy of imposing players, making the team's strategy and threats. Hagi's resignation happened just a few hours after Steaua's first Champions League game in the actual season with Slavia Prague in Prague, Czech Republic, lost with 2-1.

He is also currently working as an Eastern Europe scout for Scottish Premier League team Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He recently found Marius Niculae for the club but has found no other players to date.

Honours

Player

Manager

Individual

Club performance League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Romania League Cupa României Total
1982-83 Farul Constanţa Liga I 18 7
1983-84 Sportul Studenţesc Liga I 31 2
1984-85 30 20
1985-86 31 31
1986-87 Steaua Bucureşti Liga I 14 10
1987-88 31 26
1988-89 30 31
1989-90 22 18
Spain League Copa del Rey Total
1990-91 Real Madrid La Liga 29 3
1991-92 35 12
Italy League Coppa Italia Total
1992-93 Brescia Serie A 31 5
1993-94 Serie B 30 9
Spain League Copa del Rey Total
1994-95 Barcelona La Liga 19 3
1995-96 5 0
Turkey League Fortis Turkey Cup Total
1996-97 Galatasaray Turkcell Super League 30 14
1997-98 30 8
1998-99 28 14
1999-00 19 12
2000-01 20 7
Total Romania 207 145
Spain 88 18
Italy 61 14
Turkey 127 55
Career Total 483 232
Preceded by
Fatih Terim		 Galatasaray SK Coach
2004-2005		 Succeeded by
Eric Gerets
Preceded by
Cosmin Olăroiu		 FCU Politehnica Timişoara Coach
2005-2006		 Succeeded by
Iosif Rotariu
Preceded by
Cosmin Olăroiu		 Steaua Bucureşti Coach
2007 June-September		 Succeeded by
Massimo Pedrazzini

References

  1. ↑ "Constanţa s-a lepădat de Gheorghe Hagi", Gândul (November 5, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-09-03. 

External links

Romania squad – UEFA Euro 1984
1 Lung • 2 Rednic • 3 Ştefănescu • 4 Ungureanu • 5 Ţicleanu • 6 Iorgulescu • 7 Coraş • 8 Klein • 9 Cămătaru • 10 Bölöni • 11 Hagi • 12 Moraru • 13 Andone • 14 Irimescu • 15 Dragnea • 16 Negrilă • 17 Zare • 18 Augustin • 19 Gabor • 20 Iordache • Coach: Lucescu
 Flag of Romania
Romania squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Lung • 2 Rednic • 3 Klein • 4 Andone • 5 Rotariu • 6 G. Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Sabău • 9 Cămătaru • 10 Hagi • 11 Lupu • 12 Stelea • 13 A. Popescu • 14 Răducioiu • 15 Mateuţ • 16 Timofte • 17 Dumitrescu • 18 Balint • 19 Săndoi • 20 Muzsnay • 21 Lupescu • 22 Liliac • Coach: Jenei
 Flag of Romania
Romania squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup
1 Prunea • 2 Petrescu • 3 Prodan • 4 Belodedici • 5 Lupescu • 6 Popescu • 7 Munteanu • 8 Chiriţă • 9 Răducioiu • 10 Hagi • 11 Dumitrescu • 12 Stelea • 13 Selymes • 14 Mihali • 15 Panduru • 16 Vlădoiu • 17 Moldovan • 18 Gâlcă • 19 Papură • 20 Stîngă • 21 Ivan • 22 Preda • Coach: Iordănescu
 Flag of Romania
Romania squad – UEFA Euro 1996
1 Stelea • 2 Petrescu • 3 Prodan • 4 Belodedici • 5 Lupescu • 6 Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Sabău • 9 Răducioiu • 10 Hagi • 11 Munteanu • 12 Prunea • 13 Selymes • 14 Gâlcă • 15 Doboş • 16 Mihali • 17 Filipescu • 18 Stîngă • 19 Ilie • 20 Moldovan • 21 Vlădoiu • 22 Tene • Coach: Iordănescu
 Flag of Romania
Romania squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Stângaciu • 2 Petrescu • 3 Dulca • 4 Doboş • 5 Gâlcă • 6 Gheorghe Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Munteanu • 9 Moldovan • 10 Hagi • 11 Ilie • 12 Stelea • 13 Ciobotariu • 14 Niculescu • 15 Marinescu • 16 Gabriel Popescu • 17 Dumitrescu • 18 Filipescu • 19 Stîngă • 20 Selymes • 21 Craioveanu • 22 Prunea • Coach: Iordănescu
 Flag of Romania
Romania squad – UEFA Euro 2000
1 Lobonţ • 2 Petrescu • 3 Ciobotariu • 4 Filipescu • 5 Gâlcă • 6 Popescu • 7 Mutu • 8 Munteanu • 9 Moldovan • 10 Hagi • 11 Ilie • 12 Stelea • 13 Chivu • 14 Petre • 15 Lupescu • 16 Roşu • 17 Belodedici • 18 Ganea • 19 Lincar • 20 Hîldan • 21 Prunea • 22 Contra • Coach: Jenei
 Flag of Romania
Romania national football team – Managers

Moraru (1922–23) • Rădulescu (1923) • Suciu (1923–24) • Moraru (1924–28) • Rădulescu (1928–34) • Uridil (1934) • Săvulescu (1934–35) • Rădulescu (1935–38) • Săvulescu (1938) • Iuga (1938–39) • Economu (1939–40) • Iuga (1940) • Economu (1941–42) • Lăpuşneanu (1942–43) • Vogl (1942–43) • Braun-Bogdan (1945) • Economu (1946) • Vâlcov (1947) • Vogl (1947) • Ronnay (1947) • Vogl (1947) • Vâlcov (1948) • Steinbach (1948) • Baratky (1948) • Vogl (1948) • Vâlcov (1949) • Vogl (1949) • Mihăilescu (1949) • Albu (1950) • V. Vâlcov (1950) • Vogl (1950–51) • Popescu I (1951–57) • Botescu (1958–60) • Popescu I (1961) • Teaşcă (1962) • Popescu I (1962) • Ploeşteanu (1962–64) • Stănescu (1964) • Ploeşteanu (1964) • Oană (1965–66) • Stănescu (1967) • Oană (1967) • Niculescu (1967) • Teaşcă (1967) • Niculescu (1967–70) • Stănescu (1971) • Niculescu (1971) • Stănescu (1971) • Niculescu (1971) • Stănescu (1971) • Niculescu (1971) • Ola (1972) • Niculescu (1972) • Ola (1972) • Niculescu (1972) • Ola (1972) • Stănescu (1973–75) • Drăguşin (1975) • Kovács (1976–79) • Halagian (1979) • Cernăianu (1979) • Kovács (1980) • Stănescu (1980–81) • Lucescu (1981–86) • Jenei (1986–90) • Constantin (1990) • Rădulescu (1990–92) • Dinu (1992–93) • Iordănescu (1993–98) • Piţurcă (1998–99) • Jenei (2000) • Bölöni (2000–01) • Hagi (2001) • Iordănescu (2002–04) • Piţurcă (2004–)
Galatasaray SK – Managers

Nikolof (1905–06) • Armitage (1908–11) • Giray (1922–23) • Kabalski (1923–24) • Hunter (1924–28) • Lamberg (1930–31) • Pegnam (1931–32) • Puddefoot (1933–36) • Baar (1937) • Szabo (1938) • Tandler (1938–39) • Hayman (1939) • Zaharczuk (1939–40) • Begget (1940–45) • Dimitriyadis (1945–46) • Swenk (1947) • Molloy (1947–49) • Lockhead (1950–52) • Kılıç (1952–53) • Szekely (1953–54) • Kılıç (1954–57) • Dick (1957–58) • Remondini (1959–61) • Kılıç (1961–63) • Özarı (1963–64) • Kılıç (1964–67) • Aykaç (1967–68) • Kaloperović (1968–70) • Oktay (1970) • Özarı (1970–71) • Birch (1971–73) • Kaptan (1973–74) • Gökdel (1974–75) • Howe (1975) • Mansell (1975–76) • Allison (1976–77) • Demircan (1977–78) • Özarı (1978–79) • Şeren (1979–80) • Birch (1980–82) • Sümer (1982–83) • Ivić (1983–84) • Derwall (1984–87) • Denizli (1987–89) • Held (1989–90) • Denizli (1990–92) • Feldkamp (1992–93) • Hollmann (1993–94) • Saftig (1994–95) • Erkasap (1995) • Souness (1995–96) • Terim (1996–2000) • Lucescu (2000–02) • Terim (2002–04) • Hagi (2004–05) • Gerets (2005–07) • Feldkamp (2007–08) • Güler (2008) • Skibbe (2008–)
FC Steaua Bucureşti – Managers

Braun-Bogdan (1948) • Vâlcov (1948–49) • Ronnay (1950) • Gh. Popescu (1951–53) • Ronnay (1953–54) • Savu (1954–55) • Dobay (1956) • Savu (1958) • Niculescu (1958) • Gh. Popescu (1958–60) • Onisie (1960–61) • Mladin (1961) • Gh. Popescu (1962) • Onisie (1962–63) • Ola (1963–64) • Savu (1964–67) • Kovács (1967–70) • Onisie (1970–71) • Stănescu (1971–72) • Constantin (1972-73) • Teaşcă (1974–75) • Jenei (1975–78) • Constantin (1978–81) • Ionescu (1981) • Cernăianu (1981–83) • Jenei (1983–84) • Halagian (1984) • Jenei (1984–86) • Iordănescu (1986–90) • Ştefănescu (1990) • Hălmageanu (1991) • Jenei (1991) • Piţurcă (1992) • Iordănescu (1992–93) • Jenei (1993–94) • Dumitriu (1994–97) • Stoichiţă (1997–98) • Jenei (1998–2000) • Piţurcă (2000–02) • Olăroiu (2002) • Iovan (2002) • Piţurcă (2002–04) • Zenga (2004–05) • Dumitriu (2005) • Protasov (2005) • Olăroiu (2006–07) • Hagi (2007) • Pedrazzini (2007) • Lăcătuş (2007–08) • Munteanu (2008–)
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Flag of Romania Gheorghe Popescu		 Romanian Footballer of the Year
1993,1994		 Succeeded by
Flag of Romania Gheorghe Popescu
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Flag of Romania Gheorghe Popescu		 Romanian Footballer of the Year
1997		 Succeeded by
Flag of Romania Adrian Ilie
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Flag of Romania Adrian Ilie		 Romanian Footballer of the Year
1999		 Succeeded by
Flag of Romania Cristian Chivu
Persondata
NAME Hagi, Gheorghe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Romanian footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 5 February 1965 (1965-02-05) (age 44)
PLACE OF BIRTH Săcele , Romania
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH