Claudiu Nicu Răducanu (born 3 December 1976) is a

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 ...

n former

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 a striker.

Club career

Răducanu was born in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

on 3 December 1976 and started playing football at the youth centers of Universitatea Craiova and CSȘ Craiova. He 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 24 September 1994, playing for Electroputere Craiova in a 4–0 loss against Inter Sibiu. The team relegated at the end of his first season but he stayed with the club for a further of four seasons in Divizia B, scoring 10 goals in the 1998–99 season to help it promote back to the first league. He was transferred by Steaua București in the middle of the 1999–2000 season for 150.000$. Under the guidance of coach Victor Pițurcă he helped Steaua win the 2000–01 Divizia A title by being its top-scorer as he netted the goal 12 times in 24 appearances. He also won the

2001 Supercupa României 2001 Supercupa României was the 5th edition of Romania's season opener cup competition, Supercupa României. The match was played in Bucharest at Stadionul Naţional (1953), Stadionul Naţional on 2 March 2002, and was contested between 2000–01 ...

when he played all the minutes in the 2–1 victory in front of

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Dinamo București and managed to become the 2002–03 top-scorer of the season with 21 goals. Răducanu scored four league goals in the derby with Dinamo which helped his side earn two victories and one draw, also netting once in a loss from the

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 ...

. He also has 11 matches played with seven goals scored for '' The Military Men'' in European competitions, most notably in the

2003–04 UEFA Cup The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia. Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and a ...

edition when he scored two goals in both legs of the first round as the team defeated

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

2–1 on aggregate and one goal in the first leg of the following round when Steaua lost 2–1 on aggregate to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. In 2004 Espanyol Barcelona paid Steaua 1.3 million€ for Răducanu's transfer. At Espanyol he is best remembered after scoring the victory goal in the 89th minute of his Primera División debut, as on 1 February he was sent by coach Luis Fernandez in the 69th minute to replace Pierre Womé in a 1–0 away win against Villarreal and after the game ended, he threw his shirt to the stand where the team's fans where staying, but as a lot of them tried to grab it, the railing broke and they fell on the ground. He also scored two goals in a 3–2 victory against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, having a total of three goals netted in 11 Primera División matches. He went to play for

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

, making his

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 ...

debut on 8 August 2004 when coach Uwe Rapolder sent him on the field in the 66th minute to replace Detlev Dammeier in a 0–0 draw with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, gaining a total of five appearances in the competition until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

.
In his following years, Răducanu became a

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

, playing for various teams and leagues from Romania and worldwide, having a total of 154 appearances with 64 goals in the Romanian top-division,

International career

Răducanu played two friendly games for

, making his debut on 30 April 2003 under coach Anghel Iordănescu in a 1–0 victory against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. His second game was a 1–0 loss to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Controversy

In October 2014, Răducanu was arrested for the use of fake credit cards and for trying to bribe a police officer in Cancun,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, spending one month and a half in jail.

Honours

Extensiv Craiova * Divizia B: 1998–99 Steaua București *

: 2000–01 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), 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 Supe ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Individual *

top scorer: 2002–03

References

External links