Radu Jercan (24 October 1945 – 29 September 2012) 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Club career

Radu Jercan was born on 24 October 1945 in

Popești-Leordeni Popești-Leordeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, south of downtown Bucharest, although from the northern edge of the town to the southern edge of Bucharest the distance is less than . Most of its inhabitants commute to Bucharest ...

, starting to play football in 1966 at

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 ...

side, Dinamo Victoria București. One year later he signed with Argeș Pitești where on 20 August 1967 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 in a 2–0 home loss in front of

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 ...

. He started playing in European competitions during the

1967–68 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The tenth Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1967–68 season. The competition was won by Leeds United over two legs in the final against Ferencváros. It was the first English victory in the competition, despite sides from the country ...

, scoring a goal in a victory over

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

, then in the following edition he scored in a win with Göztepe, however on both occasions Argeș was eliminated on the aggregate result. In the 1971–72 season he formed a successful offensive trio with Nicolae Dobrin and Constantin Radu which helped Argeș win the first title in its history, Jercan scoring a personal record of eight goals in the 29 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 ...

, including a brace in Halagian's first game as coach, a 2–1 win over Rapid București. Afterwards he played three 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, 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. Jercan's last Divizia A appearance took place on 13 June 1976 in a 7–1 away loss in front of

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 ...

, having a total of 247 matches with 27 goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 11 games with two goals scored in European competitions, including six games with two 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 ...

. In 1976, Jercan went at Muscelul Câmpulung where coach was his former Argeș teammate, Ion Barbu and he was colleague with other former Argeș teammates like Constantin Radu, Vasile Stan 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. During his career he was known for his speed, running 100 metres in about 11 seconds.

International career

Radu Jercan played two friendly games at international level for

, making his debut under coach

Gheorghe Ola Gheorghe Ola (10 October 1928 – 1995) was a Romanian footballer and manager. Honours Manager Romania * UEFA European Under-18 Championship: 1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the w ...

in a 4–2 away victory 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 ...

. His second game was a 2–2 against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Coaching career

After he ended his playing career, Jercan coached teams in the Romanian lower leagues such as Muscelul Câmpulung, Ș.N. Oltenița, CS Târgoviște, Chimia Găiești, Textila Roșiori and IUPS Chitila.

Death

Jercan spent the final years of his life in his hometown, Popești-Leordeni where on 29 September 2012 he died at age 66.

Honours

Argeș Pitești *

: 1971–72 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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jercan, Radu 1945 births 2012 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players Victoria București players FC Argeș Pitești players Romanian football managers Footballers from Ilfov County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen