Gheorghe Popescu

Dunărea Calafat

Popescu, nicknamed Baciul (The Shepherd) due to his leadership skills, was born on 9 October 1967 in Calafat, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1975 at local club Dunărea. During his childhood years, his father would take him to Universitatea Craiova's matches during their "Craiova Maxima" era, and at one point Popescu told him: "Father, the day will come when I will be in Ștefănescu's place. And the people will love me more than him!" He started to play in the Romanian lower leagues for Dunărea's senior squad in 1982. His first coach, Valentin Ghiță, noted Popescu's ambition and passion, citing an instance in the winter of 1983 when Popescu sought him out for training. Ghiță agreed, training Popescu despite severe winter conditions.

Universitatea Craiova and Steaua București

In 1985, his talent was noticed by Nicolae Zamfir who brought him to play for Universitatea Craiova. Popescu made his Divizia A debut on 9 June 1985, when coach Florin Halagian sent him in the second half to replace Marian Bâcu in a 1–0 home victory against FCM Brașov. He scored his first goal in the competition almost one year later in a 7–0 win over Rapid București. In the middle of the 1987–88 season, Popescu joined Steaua București, and played 13 league matches with one goal scored under coach Anghel Iordănescu, winning the title. He also played in both legs of the European Cup semi-finals in the 2–0 aggregate loss to Benfica. He returned in 1988 to…

Popescu played 115 matches and scored 16 goals for Romania, making his debut on 20 September 1988 at age 20 under coach Emerich Jenei in a 3–0 friendly win over Albania.

1990 World Cup

He played six matches and scored once with a header in a 1–0 victory over Bulgaria during the 1990 World Cup qualifiers. In the final tournament, where coach Jenei used him in all four matches, Romania was eliminated by Ireland on penalties in the round of 16. In the first game of the group stage, Popescu delivered a highly praised performance in the 2–0 win over the Soviet Union. The following day, his agent, Mircea Petescu, presented him with a contract offer from Real Madrid, which he ultimately declined in favor of PSV Eindhoven. AC Milan captain Franco Baresi stated that he considered Popescu the best sweeper of the tournament.

1994 World Cup

He made seven appearances and scored one goal in a 4–1 victory over Cyprus during the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. In the final tournament group stage, Romania's "Golden Generation" earned victories over Colombia and the United States, then defeated Argentina 3–2 in the round of 16. Subsequently, they were eliminated by Sweden after the penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Popescu played the full 90 minutes in all five games under coach Anghel Iordănescu.

Euro 1996

Popescu played seven games, scoring the opening goal in the 3–2 win over Slovakia during the Euro 1996 qualifiers. He was used by Iordănescu in all three…

A highly intelligent defender who could play as a libero, center-back or as a defensive midfielder, Popescu is mostly known for captaining Barcelona during the mid 1990s. Known for his strong leadership skills, elegant tackles, distribution and passing skills, Popescu was fully capable of starting attacks from inside his own half. He was also a prominent goal-scoring defender, scoring 16 goals for the national team.

He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi, as he married Hagi's wife's sister. His son Nicolas is also a footballer, as is his nephew Ianis Hagi – both of the younger men were born in Istanbul while their fathers were playing for Galatasaray. In 1994, Popescu was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest. In 2003, he received the Honorary Citizen of Craiova title.

Tax evasion and imprisonment

On 4 March 2014, Popescu and seven others, among them Mihai Stoica, were convicted by a Romanian appeals court of money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the transfer of football players from Romania to other countries. Popescu was sentenced to a jail term of three years and one month. He was released for good conduct on 4 November 2015, after serving half of his sentence. The books he wrote and published during his imprisonment also contributed to the reduction of his sentence, as is customary under Romanian law.