Sergiu Marian Radu (born 10 August 1977 in Râmnicu Vâlcea,

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county ( județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is R ...

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

) is a former Romanian 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 ...

who played as forward in Romania, France, and Germany at top tier level. He had also earned one caption for the

Romania national football team The Romania national football team ( ro, Echipa națională de fotbal a României) represents Romania in international men's football competition and is administered by the Romanian Football Federation ( ro, Federația Română de Fotbal), als ...

in 2007 in a match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Career

Born in Râmnicu Vâlcea in

in 1977, Radu began his career in his native

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. He started out at

Jiul Petroşani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est The Jiul de Est ("Eastern Jiu", previously also known as ) is a headwater of the river Jiu in Romania. Its source is in the Șureanu Mountains. At ...

, before leaving in 1998 for

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

champions Rapid Bucharest. He subsequently moved to

rivals

FC Naţional FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

three years later. 2003 brought his first move to a foreign club,

Le Mans UC72 Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC, formerly referred as Le Muc) is a French association football club based in Le Mans. The club was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72. In 2010 ...

in France. However this was not a successful period, and after fifteen goalless matches he returned to Naţional. He moved to Germany in 2005 to join

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons ...

, then a

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club. Cottbus won promotion in 2006, with Radu's contribution being 12 goals in 33 games. In the next season with Cottbus in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

he scored 14 goals in 34 matches, being the goal-scorer of his team. In July 2007, he made a permanent move to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

and now in January 2008 he was loaned to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

who did not use the option to sign the forward permanently. For the 2008–09 campaign, Radu moved on a loan spell to newly promoted Bundesliga side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...

. After being demoted to the VfL Wolfsburg reserve team on 30 May 2009 he returned to Energie Cottbus on 17 July 2009 signing a three-year contract. In January 2011, he ended his contract with Cottbus and joined

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three-year turn in the Bundesliga in the ...

. Radu scored on his debut in the 4–2 win against

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the DF ...

in the 19th round of the 2. Bundesliga.

Honours

Club

Rapid Bucharest *

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

: 1998–99 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radu, Sergiu 1977 births Living people Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football forwards Liga I players CSM Jiul Petroșani players FC Olimpia Satu Mare players FC Rapid București players FC Progresul București players Ligue 1 players Le Mans FC players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FC Energie Cottbus players VfL Wolfsburg players VfB Stuttgart players 1. FC Köln players Alemannia Aachen players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Romanian expatriate footballers Sportspeople from Râmnicu Vâlcea