Ionuț Rada (footballer, born 1982)
Romanian professional footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ionuț Alin Rada (born 6 July 1982) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a centre-back or a left-back.[1]
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Rada with CFR Cluj in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ionuț Alin Rada | ||
| Date of birth | 6 July 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Craiova, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| CSS Craiova | |||
| Școala de Fotbal Gheorghe Popescu | |||
| FC Universitatea Craiova | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2000–2004 | FC Universitatea Craiova | 46 | (1) |
| 2001 | → Rocar București (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2004–2007 | Rapid București | 65 | (3) |
| 2005 | → Național București (loan) | 14 | (2) |
| 2007–2010 | Steaua București | 32 | (1) |
| 2009–2010 | → Otopeni (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2010 | Al-Nasr | 4 | (0) |
| 2010–2015 | CFR Cluj | 78 | (4) |
| 2012 | → Karlsruher SC (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| 2015–2016 | Bari | 26 | (2) |
| 2016–2018 | Fidelis Andria | 54 | (2) |
| 2018–2020 | Sănătatea Cluj | ||
| Total | 360 | (16) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2000 | Romania U18 | 7 | (0) |
| 2000 | Romania U19 | 8 | (0) |
| 2001–2003 | Romania U21 | 9 | (0) |
| 2004 | Romania B | 2 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Romania | 2 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 9 September 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 31 July 2011 | |||
After starting out with hometown club FC Universitatea Craiova, Rada played for București - Ilfov sides Rocar, Rapid, Național, Steaua and Otopeni until 2010, when he moved abroad for the first time with a brief stint at Al-Nasr. He returned to Romania the same year to sign for CFR Cluj, and also represented Karlsruher SC, Bari, Fidelis Andria and Sănătatea Cluj before retiring in 2020.
Internationally, Rada earned two caps for Romania's national team between 2003 and 2004.
Club career
Early career
Rada was born on 6 July 1982 in Craiova, Romania.[2][3] He began playing junior-level football at CSS Craiova, then moving to Gheorghe Popescu's football school.[3] Subsequently, Rada joined FC Universitatea Craiova where he made his Divizia A debut on 17 March 2001 under coach Ilie Balaci in a 4–2 away loss to Gloria Bistrița.[2][3][4] In the first half of the 2001–02 season, he was loaned to Divizia B side Rocar București, returning afterwards to "U" Craiova.[2][3] He made his European competitions debut by playing four matches in the 2001 Intertoto Cup.[2][5] Rada scored his first league goal in a 3–1 home win over Astra Ploiești.[2][6] In early 2004, Rapid București transferred him and Ionuț Stancu, paying €500,000 to Universitatea, of which €400,000 was for Rada.[3][7][8]
Rapid București and Național București
His limited playing time in his first year at Rapid resulted in a half-year loan to Național București in 2005.[2][3] There, he scored two goals in a 1–0 victory against Steaua București and in a 2–1 win over FCM Bacău.[2][9]
Afterwards, Rada returned to The Railwaymen, playing 15 matches in their 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign, where they defeated Feyenoord with 2–1 on aggregate and reached the group stage.[2][3][10][11][12] There, they finished first in a group composed of Shakhtar Donetsk, VfB Stuttgart, PAOK and Rennes.[3][10][11] Subsequently, they advanced past Hertha Berlin and Hamburg, reaching the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by rivals Steaua on the away goal rule after 1–1 on aggregate.[3][10][11][13] The team finished the season by winning the 2005–06 Cupa României, with Rada playing the entire match under coach Răzvan Lucescu in the 1–0 extra-time win against his former side, Național, in the final.[2][3][14]
Rada netted a goal that helped Rapid eliminate Nacional and reach the 2006–07 UEFA Cup group stage, where he made four appearances.[2][15] He ended the season by winning another Cupa României, with coach Lucescu using him the full 90 minutes in the 2–0 victory against Politehnica Timișoara in the final.[2][3][16]
Steaua București, Otopeni and Al-Nasr
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On 25 July 2007, Rada signed with Steaua București, which paid €1.6 million to Rapid.[3][7][17] He was wanted there by Gheorghe Hagi as a replacement for injured Sorin Ghionea.[3][7][18] Rada helped them eliminate Zagłębie Lubin and BATE Borisov in the Champions League qualifying rounds, reaching the group stage.[3][19] There, he played in all six matches facing Arsenal, Sevilla and Slavia Prague, but earned only one draw against the latter, losing the other matches.[2][3][20] He scored his only goal for Steaua in September 2007 in a 1–0 league victory over FC Vaslui with a header, following a corner kick executed by Bănel Nicoliță.[2][21]
In February 2009, Rada was loaned, at his request, to CS Otopeni for half a year.[2][3][22] Subsequently, he returned to The Military Men, playing six games in the 2009–10 Europa League group stage.[2][23]
On 28 December 2009, Steaua announced that Rada was sold to Al-Nasr for €300,000.[3][24][25] However, he made only four league appearances there.[26]
CFR Cluj and Karlsruher SC
On 11 June 2010, Rada signed with CFR Cluj.[2][3][27] He played six matches in the 2010–11 Champions League group stage, scoring two goals, one in a win over Basel and another in a loss to AS Roma.[2][3] In the first half of the 2011–12 season, he made four league appearances under coach Jorge Costa.[2][3][28] However, he was loaned for the second half of the season to 2. Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC, but CFR still managed to win the title at the end of the season without him.[2][3][28]
After his loan in Germany ended, Rada returned to CFR at the request of coach Ioan Andone.[2][3] He played nine games in the team's 2012–13 Champions League campaign as they got past Slovan Liberec and Basel in the qualifying rounds, then earned 10 points in a group composed of Manchester United, Galatasaray and Braga, which helped them finish third.[2][3][29] Subsequently, they qualified for the round of 32 in the Europa League, where they were defeated by Inter Milan.[2][30] On 7 December 2017, Rada made his last Liga I appearance in CFR's 0–0 draw against CS Universitatea Craiova, totaling 246 matches with 11 goals in the competition and 64 matches with three goals in European competitions (including four appearances in the Intertoto Cup).[2][31]
Late career
On 19 January 2015, Rada signed a contract with Serie B outfit Bari.[2][3][32] In August 2016, he joined Serie C side Fidelis Andria for a two-year spell.[1][3][26] From 2018 to 2020, he played for Liga III team Sănătatea Cluj, retiring afterwards.[3][26][33]
International career
Between 2000 and 2004, Rada was consistently featured for Romania's under-18, under-19, under-21 and B sides.[34]
Rada played two matches for Romania, making his debut on 20 August 2003 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him in the 88th minute to replace Răzvan Raț in a 2–0 friendly victory against Ukraine.[35][36] His second appearance occurred on 18 February 2004 in a 3–0 win over Georgia during the Cyprus International Football Tournament.[35][37]
Writing
Rada wrote an autobiographical book titled Vreau să joc (I want to play), which was released on 29 June 2022.[38] He was inspired to start writing by his former Al-Nasr teammate, Carlos Tenorio.[38]