Lucian Cristian Marinescu (born 24 June 1972) 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, who works as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

Club career

Marinescu was born on 24 June 1972 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania. He started to play senior level football in 1993 at

CSM Reșița Asociația Club Sportiv Muncitoresc Reșița (), commonly known as CSM Reșița or simply as Reșița, is a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Reșița, Caraș-Severin County, which competes in the Liga II. The club was foun ...

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

. In the 1996–97 season he scored 13 goals which helped Reșița earn promotion to the first league. In the following season he went to play for

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

, making 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 6 August 1997 in a 2–0 away victory against

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

. By the end of the season, Marinescu netted 13 league goals and won 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 ...

, coach

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 ...

using him all the minutes in the 1–0 victory against Universitatea Craiova in which he scored the goal from a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

. He also represented ''The Railwaymen'' in the 1997 Intertoto Cup, playing in two games from the group stage, a 2–0 win over

Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in different languages: U-Z#Z, names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the List of cities ...

and a 1–1 draw against

Austria Vienna Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Austr ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

paid €1.3 million for Marinescu's transfer from Rapid in 1998, making his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 30 August under coach

Miguel Ángel Russo Miguel Ángel Russo (born 9 April 1956) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of Boca Juniors. Playing career Club career Russo was a one club man; he ...

in a 3–1 win against

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

. He was colleague with fellow Romanians

Bogdan Stelea Bogdan Gheorghe Stelea (; born 5 December 1967) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having played professionally into his 40s, he played for all three major Liga I clubs in his country's capital, and also sp ...

and

Cătălin Munteanu Cătălin Constantin Munteanu (born 26 January 1979) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently assistant coach at Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești. Club career Munteanu, nicknamed "Cap de Zmeu" ...

, also during that time the club was nicknamed "Salamanca Rumana", because Ovidiu Stîngă and Gabriel Popescu also played for the club around that period. In his first season he made a total of 10 league appearances as the team relegated. In the following season, Marinescu went to play for Farense, making his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

debut on 17 October 1999 under coach Nicolau Vaqueiro in a 2–2 draw against Santa Clara in which he closed the score from a penalty. He scored a total of 11 goals until the end of the season, including a double in a 3–3 against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, helping his side finish on the 14th place and avoid relegation. Afterwards he returned to Salamanca where he played two seasons in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. In 2002, Marinescu returned to Portugal, spending the following two seasons at Académica in the first division. Then he went for one year in the

at Chaves. In 2005 he was brought in Greece at

Akratitos A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia () is a Greek football professional club from Ano Liosia, Athens, Greece. They currently play in the Alpha Division of the Football League championship, which is the third level of the Greek football pyramid. They main ...

together with

by their compatriot

Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a former Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently a television sport pundit for Digi Sport. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with ...

who was coach, ending his career after one year.

International career

Marinescu earned eight

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

, making his debut on 19 November 1997 when coach

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), is a Romanian former footballer and former manager, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following February, after his predecessor resigned, he became a member ...

sent him on the field in the 67th minute to replace

Iulian Filipescu Iulian Sebastian Filipescu (born 29 March 1974) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Club career Filipescu was born in Slatina, Olt County. He debuted in Divizia A with Steaua București in 1992, where he ...

in a 1–1 draw in a friendly against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He was selected by Iordănescu to be part of the squad that went at the 1998 World Cup final tournament where he played in all four games. In the group stage they earned victories in the first two rounds against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, thus mathematically being qualified before the last group match with

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

where in order to celebrate, they all dyed their hair blonde and presented themselves like that at the game. In the round of 16 he made his last appearance for the national team as Iordănescu sent him in the 76th minute to replace

Dan Petrescu Daniel "Dan" Vasile Petrescu (; born 22 December 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player who is currently in charge of Liga I club CFR Cluj. As a player, Petrescu was deployed as a full-back or a winger and began his career a ...

in the 1–0 loss to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

International stats

Sports agent career

After he ended his playing career he worked as a

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

Honours

CSM Reșița *

: 1996–97 Rapid București *

: 1997–98

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marinescu, Lucian 1972 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Footballers from Bucharest Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Liga I players Liga II players La Liga players Segunda División players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players CSM Reșița players FC Rapid București players UD Salamanca players S.C. Farense players Académica de Coimbra (football) players G.D. Chaves players A.P.O. Akratitos Ano Liosia players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Association football agents 20th-century Romanian sportsmen