Ștefan Popescu
Romanian footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ștefan Adrian Popescu (born 5 May 1993) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a left back.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ștefan Adrian Popescu | ||
| Date of birth | 5 May 1993 | ||
| Place of birth | Iași, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Left back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2002–2006 | Noua Generație Iași | ||
| 2007–2009 | Școala de Fotbal Gheorghe Popescu | ||
| 2009–2011 | AS Roma | ||
| 2011–2012 | Cesena | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012 | Cesena | 0 | (0) |
| 2012–2014 | Ajaccio | 6 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | → Marseille II (loan) | 16 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | → Ajaccio II (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2014 | Astra Giurgiu | 2 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | Cagliari | 0 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | → Ternana (loan) | 26 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Modena | 50 | (3) |
| 2017–2018 | Salernitana | 11 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Politehnica Iași | 0 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2010–2011 | Romania U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Romania U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Romania U21 | 5 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 1 June 2019 | |||
Club career
Youth career
Popescu was born on 5 May 1993 in Iași, Romania and began playing junior-level football at age 8 under coach Sorin Ștefan at the Noua Generație Iași club.[2][3][4] He participated in a football tournament organized by Gillette, where he was noticed by Emerich Jenei who compared him to Roberto Carlos.[3][4][5] Following his performance in the tournament, he earned a move to Gheorghe Popescu's football school.[2][3][4] In 2009, Bruno Conti noticed him in a match he played against Dinamo București, bringing him to AS Roma.[2][4][5][6] There, Popescu suffered a rough injury which necessitated surgery.[6] In 2011, he moved to Cesena.[2][5]
Cesena and Ajaccio
Popescu played his first match as a senior on 12 January 2012, when coach Daniele Arrigoni used him as a starter in a 2–1 away loss to Napoli in the 2010–11 Coppa Italia round of 32.[5][6][7] He scored his side's goal in the 21st minute of the game, but suffered an injury eight minutes later and was substituted.[5][6][7]
Popescu moved to French side Ajaccio in September 2012 after impressing coach Alex Dupont in a trial, but was loaned shortly afterwards to Marseille's fifth-tier satellite club.[5][8][9] Subsequently, he returned to Ajaccio and made his Ligue 1 debut on 25 August 2013, when coach Fabrizio Ravanelli sent him in the 82nd minute to replace Sigamary Diarra in a 0–0 draw against Nice.[5][10] In January 2014, after only six months and six league matches played, he left Ajaccio after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement, along with teammate and fellow Romanian Adrian Mutu.[2][5][11]
Astra Giurgiu, Cagliari and Ternana
In February 2012, Popescu went to play for Astra Giurgiu.[2][5][12] He made his Liga I debut on 12 April under coach Florin Marin in a 1–0 home win over Concordia Chiajna.[2][13] In his five-month spell, he made only two league appearances for Astra, faced with stiff competition from Júnior Morais for a place in the starting lineup.[2][5][14]
In the summer of 2014, Popescu signed a contract with Cagliari after impressing coach Zdeněk Zeman.[15] However, shortly after being signed he was loaned to Ternana, making his Serie B debut on 28 October 2014 in a 3–1 away loss to Carpi.[2][5][15][16]
Modena, Salernitana and Politehnica Iași
In August 2015, Popescu joined Serie B club Modena where he was coached by Hernán Crespo.[2][5][17] After the team suffered relegation at the end of the 2015–16 season, Popescu extended his contract with the club.[18] During the 2016–17 Lega Pro season, he netted a brace in a 4–1 victory against Feralpisalò and one goal in a 2–0 win over Bassano Virtus.[19] Subsequently, he went to play for Salernitana.[5][14] In March 2019, Popescu signed with Politehnica Iași where he spent four months without playing any league matches, retiring afterwards at age 26.[5][14][20]