Constantin Radu (5 January 1945 – 16 May 2020) was 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 football

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Constantin Radu also known as "Tache" or "Burtilă" was born on 5 January 1945 in

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

and he started to play junior level football at local club, Argeș, after his talent was noticed by coach Leonte Ianovschi. He started playing senior level football for Argeș in 1964, aged 18 when 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 15 November in a 1–1 with Petrolul Ploiești. At the end of his first season, the team reached the

1965 Cupa României final The 1965 Cupa României Final was the 27th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Știința Cluj and Dinamo Pitești and was won by Știința after a game with three goals. It was the first cup fo ...

, however coach

Virgil Mărdărescu Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian football player and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 in Bucharest, Romani ...

did not use him in the eventual 2–1 loss in front of

Știința Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

. He started playing in European competitions during the

1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The ninth Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1966–67 season. The competition was won by Dinamo Zagreb over two legs in the final against Leeds United. For the first time in the history of the cup, replays were scrapped, with sides going ...

, appearing in six matches as they eliminated

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, Radu scoring once against the first and twice against the second, the campaign ending in the third round as they were defeated with 1–0 on aggregate by

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

who eventually won the competition. In the 1971–72 season he formed a successful offensive trio with

Nicolae Dobrin Nicolae Dobrin (; 26 August 1947 – 26 October 2007) was a Romanian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a manager. Nicknamed ''Gâscanul'' ("The Gander") or ''Prințul din Trivale'' ("The Prince of Trivale"), he is considered o ...

and

Radu Jercan Radu Jercan (24 October 1945 – 29 September 2012) was a Romanian football forward and manager. Club career Radu Jercan was born on 24 October 1945 in Popești-Leordeni, Romania, starting to play football in 1966 at Divizia B side, Dinamo Vic ...

which helped Argeș win the first title in its history, Radu scoring nine goals in the 27 appearances given to him by coaches

Titus Ozon Titus Ozon (13 May 1927 – 24 November 1996) was a Romanian international football striker and manager. He was considered one of the greatest talents in postwar Romanian football, famous for his extraordinary ability to dribble. Career Ozon wa ...

and

Florin Halagian Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname ''Armeanul'' (The Armenian). With 878 games, he is the manager who has the most matches in the Liga I, R ...

. He would say about this performance:"I will never forget the championship in which I won the first championship title with FC Argeș. Out of 30 matches, I played 27 and scored nine goals." Afterwards he played four games in the

1972–73 European Cup The 1972–73 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by Ajax in the final against Juventus at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. The win by Ajax resulted in the fourth consecutive championship by a ...

, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round against whom he scored two goals, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

but lost the second leg with 3–1 in which he scored his side's goal. Radu's last Divizia A appearance took place on 9 April 1975 in a 1–0 away loss in front of

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est * A village in Țuglui Țuglui is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, ...

, having a total of 246 matches with 63 goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 16 games with six goals scored in European competitions, including 10 games with three goals in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

. He was forced to retire at age 32 because he suffered a hard injury in a friendly with Steagul Roșu Brașov. Radu tried a comeback, playing for Muscelul Câmpulung where coach was his former Argeș teammate,

Ion Barbu Ion Barbu (, pen name of Dan Barbilian; 18 March 1895 –11 August 1961) was a Romanian mathematician and poet. His name is associated with the Mathematics Subject Classification number 51C05, which is a major posthumous recognition reserved ...

and he was colleague with other former Argeș teammates like

Vasile Stan Vasile Stan (born 11 February 1945) is a Romanian former football goalkeeper. Playing career Vasile Stan was born on 11 February 1945 in Bucharest, Romania and he started to play football at age 15 under the guidance of coach Lăzărescu at fo ...

and

Marian Popescu Marian Popescu (14 August 1947 – 19 November 2016) was a Romanian football midfielder. Career Marian Popescu was born on 14 August 1947 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1965 at local club, FC Rapid București, ...

, managing to promote the team from the third league to the second where he ended his career in 1978.

International career

Radu played three friendly games at international level for

, making his debut on 7 December 1966 when coach

Ilie Oană Ilie Oană (16 August 1918 – 27 April 1993) was a football player and manager. Club career Ilie Oană was born on 16 August 1918, being nicknamed "Americanul" ''(The American)'' because his place of birth was in Indiana Harbor to Romanian pa ...

sent him on the field in the 62nd minute in order to replace

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

in a 2–1 away victory against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. His following game was a 2–1 away victory against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and his last game played for the national team was a 4–2 away win against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in which he scored one goal.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Constantin Radu goal.''

Coaching career

After he ended his playing career, Radu coached teams in the Romanian lower leagues such as Unirea Drăgășani and also worked at the youth center of Argeș Pitești.

Death

Radu died on 16 May 2020 at age 75.

Honours

Argeș Pitești *

: 1971–72 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1964–65 Muscelul Câmpulung *

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

: 1976–77

References

External links

Constantin Radu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Radu, Constantin 1945 births 2020 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players FC Argeș Pitești players Romanian football managers Footballers from Pitești 20th-century Romanian sportsmen