Florin Răducioiu

Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker for Dinamo București, AC Milan, Brescia, West Ham United, Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and AS Monaco.[1] He played for Romania at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 1996.

Florin Răducioiu
Răducioiu in 2018
Personal information
Full name Florin Valeriu Răducioiu
Date of birth (1970-03-17) 17 March 1970
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1978–1986 Dinamo București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1990 Dinamo București 76 (29)
1990–1991 Bari 30 (5)
1991–1992 Hellas Verona 30 (2)
1992–1993 Brescia 29 (13)
1993–1994 AC Milan 7 (2)
1994–1998 Espanyol 56 (19)
1996 → West Ham United (loan) 11 (2)
1997–1998 → VfB Stuttgart (loan) 19 (4)
1998–2000 Brescia 37 (5)
2000 Dinamo București 8 (1)
2001–2002 Monaco 12 (2)
2004 Créteil 9 (1)
Total 324 (85)
International career
1989–1990 Romania U21 9 (3)
1990–1996 Romania 40 (21)
Managerial career
2007 Dinamo București (sporting director)
2012–2013 Romania U15
2013–2014 Romania U16
2014–2015 Romania U17
2017–2018 Regal Sport București (technical director)
2022 Dinamo București (team manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career
Răducioiu in 1995

Răducioiu was a product of Dinamo București. Mircea Lucescu, former Dinamo coach, saw his skills and, as a feature of his philosophy towards football to promote young players, gave Răducioiu the chance to play at the highest level at the age of 17 years.

By the beginning of 1988–89, Răducioiu was first-choice in Lucescu's team. He made an impressive debut in European football by reaching the quarterfinals of the 1988–89 Cup Winners' Cup (ousted by U.C. Sampdoria in the quarterfinals, on away goals) and finishing second in the league. By 1989–90, Răducioiu was one of Romania's finest players, and that year was to be the most significant of his early career. He won the Romanian championship and the cup (hat-trick in the final against Steaua), reaching the semifinals of the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, where Dinamo was defeated by RSC Anderlecht.

After two seasons in Serie A, Răducioiu joined A.C. Milan in 1993–94, making only seven appearances and scoring two goals, but winning the UEFA Champions League. In 1994, he went to La Liga to play for RCD Espanyol.

Having scored his country's only goal in UEFA Euro 1996 manager Harry Redknapp signed him for West Ham United in 1996.[2] Most famously, he scored a goal against Manchester United[3] after being criticized by Redknapp for going shopping with his wife at Harvey Nichols on a previous match day;[4] a claim Răducioiu denies.[2] Despite showing promise, he never adapted to the pace and competitive nature of the English game, making no real impact at Upton Park. He scored three goals during his spell with the Hammers. In addition to his goal against Manchester United he scored against Stockport County in the League Cup[5] and Sunderland in the league.[6] After his short underachieving spell at the East London club, having fallen out with manager Redknapp,[2] he was transferred back to Espanyol, having scored just two goals in the Premier League.

Răducioiu retired in 2004, after a short stint with modest French side US Créteil-Lusitanos. He had a short spell as a sports agent and as sporting director at Dinamo Bucharest.[2]

He is one of the four professional football players (alongside Christian Poulsen, Stevan Jovetic and Justin Kluivert) to have plied his trade in the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France).[7]

International career

Răducioiu debuted for the Romania national team in a friendly game against Israel on 25 April 1990, playing for 58 minutes before he was replaced. Răducioiu made his FIFA World Cup debut in 1990 against the Soviet Union at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, aged 20. Appearing in three games for Romania, he finished the tournament without scoring, and Romania fell to the Republic of Ireland in the second round, in a penalty shootout. Răducioiu had to wait until the last game of 1990 to score his first goal. He scored for Romania in a 6–0 victory over San Marino on 5 December in a qualifying match for UEFA Euro 1992, only to double his account in the next game in San Marino, as the Romanians won 3–1.

The year 1993 would be significantly more successful for Răducioiu internationally, as he scored two goals against Czechoslovakia in Košice, even though Romania lost 5–2. Răducioiu's second goal came in the 55th minute, to tie the game at 2–2. However, Slovak player Peter Dubovsky scored a second half hat-trick to beat Romania. His first goal came just four minutes after Răducioiu's second, and in the final eight minutes, Dubosky scored twice to win the game, even though the Czechoslovak had had two players sent off.

An even greater success for Răducioiu would come three months later when in Toftir, he managed to score all four of Romania's goals against the Faroe Islands, becoming the first Romanian player to score four goals for the Romania national team in modern times, a record equaled only by Gheorghe Popescu in 1997 against Liechtenstein.

Răducioiu also scored a penalty kick against Belgium in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. In the last group game of qualifying, he scored another goal against Wales finishing a nice team effort after a pass from Ilie Dumitrescu. This late goal, coming in the 83rd minute, sent Romania to the top of its group from the potential third place in the case that the game had ended 1–0, and subsequently to the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Răducioiu scored two goals against Colombia during the qualifying round. In the quarterfinal against Sweden, he first equalized Sweden's 0–1 lead in the 88th minute of regular time, taking the game to extra time, where he put Romania ahead 2–1 in the first period. Shortly thereafter, Sweden's Stefan Schwarz was sent off after his second yellow card, but despite this Kennet Andersson equalized the game in the 115th minute, leading to a shootout. Răducioiu scored Romania's first penalty attempt after Sweden had missed its first, but Romania was eliminated after missing two attempts out of six. Still, Răducioiu's four tournament goals helped Romania to its most successful FIFA World Cup campaign ever.

At the UEFA Euro 1996, as Romania lost all three group stage matches, Răducioiu netted the nation's only goal, in a 2–1 loss against Spain. Overall he won 40 caps between April 1990 and June 1996.[8]

Career statistics

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year.
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 1990101
199151
199221
199348
1994125
199534
199641
Total4021
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Răducioiu goal.
List of international goals scored by Florin Răducioiu
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
15 December 1990Stadionul Naţional, Bucharest, Romania San Marino3–06–0UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
227 March 1991Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino San Marino2–13–1UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying
329 November 1992Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Cyprus2–04–11994 FIFA World Cup qualification
42 June 1993Všešportový areál, Košice, Slovakia RCS1–12–5FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
52–2
68 September 1993Svangaskarð, Toftir, Faroe Islands Faroe Islands1–04–0FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
72–0
83–0
94–0
1013 October 1993Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Belgium1–02–1FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
1117 November 1993Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales Wales2–12–1FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
1218 June 1994Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States Colombia1–03–11994 FIFA World Cup
133–1
1410 July 1994Stanford Stadium, Stanford, United States Sweden1–12–21994 FIFA World Cup
152–1
167 September 1994Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Azerbaijan3–03–0UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
1729 March 1995Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Poland1–12–1UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
1826 April 1995Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey Azerbaijan1–04–1UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
193–1
204–1
2118 June 1996Elland Road, Leeds, England Spain1–11–2UEFA Euro 1996

Honours

Dinamo București

AC Milan

VfB Stuttgart

References
  1. Arnhold, Matthias (16 April 2020). "Florin Valeriu Răducioiu – Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. "Florin Radicioiu". www.whufc.com. 8 August 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  3. "West Ham 2 – 2 Manchester United". 4TheGame. 8 December 1996. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  4. "Redknapp seeks new order from chaos". The Independent. 16 September 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  5. Wood, Greg (27 November 1996). "Cavaco counts his blessings". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  6. Szreter, Adam (28 December 1996). "Sunderland in need of help". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  7. Woodward, Guy (14 February 2003). "The Knowledge: major league players". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  8. Stokkermans, Karel (16 April 2020). "Florin Valeriu Raducioiu – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
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