Mihai Popescu (born 7 May 1993) is a 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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Liga I 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 ...

club

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

and the Romania national team. Popescu started his senior career at

Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See a ...

in 2013, while on loan from

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 ...

. He made his professional debut for the latter side in 2016, and had multiple loan spells before moving to Heart of Midlothian in 2020. After returning from Scotland, Popescu signed with Farul Constanța and won his first national title in the 2022–23 season. In 2024, his performances earned him a transfer to FCSB, the cross-town rival of his former club Dinamo București. Internationally, Popescu registered his debut 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 ...

in March 2025, in a 0–1 home loss to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Club career

Dinamo București and various loans

Popescu joined

club

from Sporting Pitești in 2011. Following loans to

, Berceni, and again Dunărea Călărași, he recorded his debut for Dinamo on 11 August 2016, starting in a 2–1 away win over

Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...

in the

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

. On 12 September, Popescu made his Liga I debut in a 1–2 away loss to ASA Târgu Mureș. In the summer of 2017, Popescu was sent on loan to fellow league club Voluntari, where he spent half of

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 ...

. Upon his return to Dinamo, he scored his first Liga I goal on 12 March 2018, in a 3–0 home defeat of

Gaz Metan Mediaș Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

. On 29 July that year, he netted in a 3–3 away

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

draw with

. Popescu moved abroad for the first time by being loaned to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

side St Mirren in January 2019. After St Mirren manager

Oran Kearney Oran Kearney (born 29 July 1978) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who was most recently the sporting director of NIFL Premiership side Coleraine. Playing career Kearney joined Ballymena United from Moyola Pa ...

left the team, he returned to

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 ...

in July that year.

Heart of Midlothian and loan to Hamilton Academical

In September 2020, Popescu signed a two-year contract with

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

club Heart of Midlothian. After the team achieved promotion to the Scottish Premiership as league winners, on 31 August 2021 he was sent to Championship side

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

on loan until the end of the campaign.

Farul Constanța

In July 2022, Popescu left Hearts as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

and returned to his native Romania, signing a two-year contract with Liga I side Farul Constanța. In his debut season, he made 30 league appearances and scored one goal to aid the club in winning the national title. Popescu made his debut in

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

competitions on 12 July 2023, starting in a 1–0 home victory over

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier o ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(1–3 loss on aggregate). On 24 August that year, he scored his first European goal after coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 home win over HJK in the

Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

(2–3 on aggregate).

FCSB

On 4 September 2024, Popescu signed a one-year contract with Romanian reigning champions FCSB, the city rivals of his former club Dinamo București. Club owner

Gigi Becali George "Gigi" Becali (; born 25 June 1958) is a Romanian businessman, writer, politician and former convict, mostly known for his ownership of the FCSB football club. Becali was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and Decembe ...

stated that the transfer fee amounted to €250,000. Popescu soon became a regular starter for the ''Roș-albaștrii'', appearing in 12

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

matches—ten of them as a starter—across the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and knockout rounds. Domestically, he featured in 25 Liga I games, helping the club secure a second consecutive title.

International career

Popescu made his debut for the Romania national team on 21 March 2025, aged 31, starting in a 0–1 home loss to

in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Three days later, he scored in a 5–1 away thrashing of

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

counting for the same competition.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popescu goal.''

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 2016–17 Voluntari *

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 ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Heart of Midlothian *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Farul Constanța *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

FCSB *Liga I: 2024–25 *Supercupa României:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popescu, Mihai 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Câmpulung Footballers from Argeș County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players FC Dinamo București II players FC Dinamo București players FC Dunărea Călărași players FC Voluntari players Scottish Professional Football League players St Mirren F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players FCV Farul Constanța players FCSB players Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland 21st-century Romanian sportsmen