Florin Răducioiu

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Florin Răducioiu
Personal information
Full nameFlorin Valeriu Răducioiu
Date of birth (1970-03-17) 17 March 1970
Place of birthBucharest, Romania
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing positionStriker
Youth career
1978–1986Dinamo Bucureşti
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1986–1990Dinamo Bucureşti76(29)
1990–1991Bari30(5)
1991–1992Verona30(2)
1992–1993Brescia29(13)
1993–1994Milan7(2)
1994–1996Espanyol46(14)
1996–1997West Ham United11(2)
1997Espanyol10(5)
1997–1998VfB Stuttgart19(4)
1998–2000Brescia37(5)
2000–2001Dinamo Bucureşti8(1)
2001–2002AS Monaco12(2)
2003–2004Créteil-Lusitanos9(1)
Total324(85)
National team
1990–1996[1]Romania40(21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970 in Bucharest) is a former Romanian football striker, who played for Dinamo Bucureşti, A.C. Milan, Brescia Calcio, West Ham United, RCD Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and AS Monaco.

He played for Romania at the 1990 FIFA World Cup hosted by Italy, the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, and England's UEFA Euro 1996.

Club career

Răducioiu was a product of Dinamo Bucureşti. Mircea Lucescu, 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 in the quarterfinals, on away goals) and finishing second in the league. 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 (hat-trick in the final against Steaua), reaching the semifinals of the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, where Dinamo was defeated by RSC Anderlecht.

After two seasons in Serie A, Răducioiu joined A.C. Milan in 1993–94, making only seven appearances and scoring two goals, but winning the UEFA Champions League. In 1994 he went to Spain to play for RCD Espanyol.

Having scored his country's only goal in Euro96 manager Harry Redknapp signed him for West Ham United in 1996.[2] Most famously, he scored a goal against Manchester United[3] after being criticized by Harry Redknapp for going shopping with his wife at Harvey Nichols on a previous match day;[4] a claim Răducioiu denies.[2] 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 in the League Cup[5] and Sunderland in the league.[6] After his short underachieving spell at the East London club, having fallen out with manager Redknapp,[2] he was transferred back to Espanyol, having scored just two goals in the Premier League.

Răducioiu retired in 2004, after a short stint with modest French side US Créteil-Lusitanos. He had a short spell as a sports agent and as sporting director at Dinamo Bucharest.[2]

He is one of the two professional football players (alongside Christian Poulsen) to have plied his trade in the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France).[7]

International career

Răducioiu debuted for the Romania in a friendly game against Israel on 25 April 1990, playing for 58 minutes before he was replaced. Răducioiu made his FIFA World Cup debut in 1990 against the Soviet Union at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, aged 20. Appearing in three games for Romania, he finished the tournament without scoring, and Romania fell to the Republic of Ireland in the second round, in a penalty shootout. Răducioiu had to wait until the last game of 1990 to score his first goal. He scored for Romania in a 6–0 victory over San Marino on 5 December in a qualifying match for Euro 1992, only to double his account in the next game in San Marino, as the Romanians won 3–1.

The year 1993 would be significantly more successful for Răducioiu internationally, as he scored two goals against Czechoslovakia 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 to beat Romania. 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 Florin would come three months later when in Toftir, he managed to score all four of Romania's goals against the Faroe Islands, becoming the first Romanian player to score four goals for the national team in modern times, a record equaled only by Gheorghe Popescu in 1997 against Liechstenstein.

Florin also scored a penalty kick against Belgium in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. In the last group game of qualifying, Răducioiu scored another goal against Wales finishing a nice team effort after a pass from Ilie Dumitrescu. 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. This win sent Romania to the 1994 World Cup. There, Răducioiu would help Romania to its most successful World Cup campaign ever, scoring four goals in the tournament.

In 1994, he fared even better, scoring four goals in the tournament as Romania advanced to the quarterfinals. Răducioiu scored two goals against Colombia during the qualifying round, and later plugged two more in a quarterfinal loss to Sweden. Due to rule changes, had the match against Sweden been played two years later, Romania would have advanced to the semifinals; Răducioiu's second goal was the first scored during extra time, and under later rules, this tally would have been considered a golden goal (instead, Kennet Andersson also scored in the additional period, tying the game, and Sweden eventually won 5–4 on penalties, as Răducioiu scored on the first penalty attempt for Romania).

In Euro 1996, as Romania lost all three group stage matches, Răducioiu netted the nation's only goal, in a 1–2 loss against Spain.

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 5 December 1990 Stadionul Naţional, Bucharest, Romania  San Marino 3–0 6–0 UEFA Euro 1992 Qualifying
2 27 March 1991 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 2–1 3–1 UEFA Euro 1992 Qualifying
3 29 November 1992 Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus  Cyprus 2–0 4–1 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
4 2 June 1993 Všešportový areál, Košice, Czechoslovakia  Czechoslovakia 1–1 2–5 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
5 2 June 1993 Všešportový areál, Košice, Czechoslovakia  Czechoslovakia 2–2 2–5 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
6 8 September 1993 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands  Faroe Islands 1–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
7 8 September 1993 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands  Faroe Islands 2–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
8 8 September 1993 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands  Faroe Islands 3–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
9 8 September 1993 Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands  Faroe Islands 4–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
10 13 October 1993 Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania  Belgium 1–0 2–1 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
11 17 November 1993 Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales  Wales 2–1 2–1 FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
12 18 June 1994 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States  Colombia 1–0 3–1 World Cup 1994 Group A
13 18 June 1994 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States  Colombia 3–1 3–1 World Cup 1994 Group A
14 10 July 1994 Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States  Sweden 1–1 2–2 World Cup 1994 Quarter-finals
15 10 July 1994 Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States  Sweden 2–1 2–2 World Cup 1994 Quarter-finals
16 7 September 1994 Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania  Azerbaijan 3–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
17 29 March 1995 Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania  Poland 1–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
18 26 April 1995 Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey  Azerbaijan 1–0 4–1 UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
19 26 April 1995 Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey  Azerbaijan 3–1 4–1 UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
20 26 April 1995 Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey  Azerbaijan 4–1 4–1 UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
21 18 June 1996 Elland Road, Leeds, England  Spain 1–1 1–2 UEFA Euro 1996 Group B

Honours

Club

Dinamo Bucureşti
AC Milan
VfB Stuttgart

References

  1. ↑ "Florin Valeriu Raducioiu - Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Florin Radicioiu". www.whufc.com. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2011. 
  3. ↑ "West Ham 2 – 2 Manchester United". 4TheGame. 8 December 1996. Retrieved 25 November 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Redknapp seeks new order from chaos". The Independent. 16 September 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2013. 
  5. ↑ Wood, Greg (27 November 1996). "Cavaco counts his blessings". London: The Independent. Retrieved 25 November 2009. 
  6. ↑ Szreter, Adam (28 December 1996). "Sunderland in need of help". London: The Independent. Retrieved 25 November 2009. 
  7. ↑ Woodward, Guy (14 February 2003). "The Knowledge: major league players". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2009. 

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