Ioan Lupescu

Ioan "Ionuț" Angelo Lupescu (born 9 December 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Club career Youth career Lupescu, nicknamed Kaiserul, was born on 9 December 1968 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing football in 1975 at the youth center of Austrian club Admira Wacker where his father Nicolae played until his retirement. When his family returned to Romania, he wanted to play for Rapid București, but was rejected after a trial.

Dinamo București On 21 September 1986 at age 17, Lupescu made his Divizia A debut when coach Mircea Lucescu sent him in the 68th minute to replace Ilie Balaci in Dinamo's 4–1 home victory against SC Bacău. At age 19, Lucescu gave him the captain's armband. In the following season the club won The Double with Lupescu playing 29 league matches, scoring four goals, and Lucescu also used him for the entire 6–4 victory against rivals Steaua București in the 1990 Cupa României final. In the same season, he appeared in six matches and scored one goal against Partizan Belgrade in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup, as Dinamo reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated after a 2–0 aggregate loss to Anderlecht.

Bayer Leverkusen After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Lupescu had offers to play in Italy from Bologna and Mircea Lucescu's team, Pisa. He made his Bundesliga debut on 11 August 1990 when he was sent by coach Jürgen Gelsdorf in the 46th minute to replace Marcus Feinbier in a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich in which he provided the assist for Ulf Kirsten's goal. On 8 September 1990, Lupescu scored his first league goal for Leverkusen in a 3–1 home victory against FC St. Pauli. In the 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup, The Black and Reds reached the quarter-finals, being eliminated on the away goals rule after 5–5 on aggregate by Benfica. In the 1994–95 UEFA Cup campaign, they reached the semi-finals and were eliminated by the eventual winners, Parma, with Lupescu making 10 appearances.

Borussia Mönchengladbach In 1996, Lupescu joined fellow Bundesliga team Borussia Mönchengladbach, making his league debut for them on 16 August when coach Bernd Krauss used him the entire match in a 0–0 home draw against Arminia Bielefeld. He netted his first goal on 11 March 1997 in a 2–1 away loss to Hamburg. On 2 May 1998, he made his last Bundesliga appearance during a 5–2 home win over Hansa Rostock in which he scored once, totaling 227 matches with 10 goals in the competition.

Return to Dinamo Lupescu returned to Dinamo where in the 1998–99 season he netted a personal record of eight goals. He also played the entire match in the 2–0 victory against Universitatea Craiova in the 2000 Cupa României final.

Bursaspor In 2000, Lupescu went to play in Turkey at Bursaspor where he was also the team's captain. In the following round he scored once again in a 2–1 away loss to Trabzonspor, and these were his only two goals in a total of nine matches played in the Turkish league. He started the 2001–02 season at Dinamo, making his last Divizia A appearance on 30 September 2001 in a 4–2 home win against FCM Bacău, totaling 183 matches with 25 goals in the competition. However, at the end of the season, both Dinamo and Al-Hilal won the title. Throughout his career, Lupescu was placed several times among the top five in the Romanian Footballer of the Year ranking, finishing third in both 1991 and 1994.

International career Early years and 1990 World Cup Lupescu made 74 appearances for Romania and scored six goals, making his debut on 3 February 1988 when coach Emerich Jenei sent him in the 81st minute to replace Ioan Sabău in a 2–0 friendly victory against Israel. He played one match in the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers. Afterwards he played eight games and scored one goal in the Euro 1992 qualifiers. After getting past the group stage, they defeated Argentina with a 3–2 victory in the round of 16. They were eliminated after the penalty shoot-out by Sweden in the quarter-finals, with Lupescu netting his spot kick.

He played nine games during the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers.

Final years and Euro 2000 He played two matches in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, but was not part of the squad that went to the final tournament. Jenei used Lupescu during the final tournament in the group game that ended in a 1–1 draw against Germany when he replaced Viorel Moldovan in the 85th minute. He also played in the quarter-final against Italy that ended with a 2–0 loss when he replaced Constantin Gâlcă in the 68th minute. Lupescu's last national team appearance was on 7 October 2000 in a 3–0 away loss to Italy in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. He started to work as a manager in the second part of the 2003–04 Divizia A season, helping FCM Bacău avoid relegation. In the following season he worked for FC Brașov in Divizia A but left the club after refusing to participate in a fixed match against Gloria Bistrița. He insisted in a discussion with the club's leader, Romeo Pașcu, to play the game fairly, promising that he will leave the club if he loses.

In July 2023, Lupescu was appointed as a board member in Mahd Sports Academy, a sports academy based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Personal life Lupescu is the son of former Romanian international player Nicolae Lupescu.

In 1994, Lupescu was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest. On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu for contributing as general manager of the Romanian Football Federation at the national team's successful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with the Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

In 2010, he appeared in the "Be free" music video of Smiley's band Radio Killer alongside Senegalese international footballer Ousmane N'Doye and former tennis ATP number 1, Ilie Năstase.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lupescu goal.

Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 1989–90, 1999–2000, 2001–02 Cupa României: 1989–90, 1999–2000, 2000–01 Supercupa României runner-up: 2001 Bayer Leverkusen DFB-Pokal: 1992–93 DFB-Supercup runner-up: 1993 DFB-Hallenpokal: 1994 Al-Hilal Saudi Premier League: 2001–02 Individual Romanian Footballer of the Year third place: 1991, 1994