Marian Popescu (14 August 1947 – 19 November 2016) was a Romanian football midfielder.[2][3]

Marian Popescu
Personal information
Date of birth (1947-08-14)14 August 1947[1]
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania[1]
Date of death 19 November 2016(2016-11-19) (aged 69)[2]
Place of death Bucharest, Romania[2]
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Position(s) Central midfielder[1]
Youth career
1965–1966 Rapid București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1968 Universitatea Craiova 27 (2)
1968 Rapid București 7 (0)
1969–1970 CFR Cluj 33 (4)
1970–1975 Argeș Pitești 134 (12)
1975–1976 FC Constanța 13 (1)
1976–1979 Muscelul Câmpulung
Total 214 (19)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

edit

Marian Popescu was born on 14 August 1947 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1965 at local club, Rapid.[1] One year later he signed with Universitatea Craiova where he made his Divizia A debut on 6 November 1966 in a 4–1 away loss in front of Steaua București.[1] After one season he left Craiova and returned to Rapid where he made his debut in European competitions, playing in both legs of the 7–4 loss on aggregate in front of OFK Beograd from the first round of the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.[1][4] He left Rapid after a half of year to go at Divizia B side, CFR Cluj which he helped them earn promotion to the first league.[1]

He arrived at Argeș Pitești in 1970 where in the 1971–72 season he helped the club win the first title in its history, Popescu scoring two goals in the 30 appearances given to him by coaches Titus Ozon and Florin Halagian.[1][2][5] Afterwards he played four games in the 1972–73 European Cup, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid but lost the second leg with 3–1.[1][6][7]

In 1975, Popescu went to play for FC Constanța where on 31 March 1976 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 win over FCM Reșița in which he scored the goal, gaining a total of 199 matches with 17 goals scored in the competition, also having a total of seven games in European competitions, including two games in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.[1] Afterwards he went at Muscelul Câmpulung where coach was his former Argeș teammate, Ion Barbu and he was colleague with other former Argeș teammates like Constantin Radu, Vasile Stan and Radu Jercan, managing to promote the team from the third league to the second where he spent two more seasons before retiring in 1979, scoring 10 goals in the first one.[1][8]

Death

edit

Popescu died on 19 November 2016 at age 69 in his hometown, Bucharest.[2]

Honours

edit

CFR Cluj

Argeș Pitești

Muscelul Câmpulung

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Marian Popescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. ^ a b c d e "A murit Marian Popescu, fostul mare campion al FC Argeș" [Marian Popescu, a former great champion of FC Argeș, died] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  3. ^ Marian Popescu at WorldFootball.net
  4. ^ "Marian Popescu. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1968/1969". WorldFootball. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Singura echipă românească de fotbal care a învins trei mari cluburi din Spania. Marele Dobrin a fost cheia succeselor" [The only Romanian football team that has defeated three major clubs in Spain. The great Dobrin was the key to success] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Marian Popescu. Champions League 1972/1973". WorldFootball. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Cutia cu amintiri: VASILE STAN: "Cea mai mare satisfacție era să-i vezi pe acei oameni că te felicită și sunt fericiți de jocul tău"" [Box of memories: VASILE STAN: "The greatest satisfaction was to see those people congratulating you and being happy with your game"] (in Romanian). Argespress.ro. 3 September 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
edit