Marcel Răducanu

Marcel Răducanu (born 21 October 1954) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

Club career

"Răducanu had an exceptional left foot, practically a feast for the viewer's eye. Making a comparison over time, we can put him on the same value scale as Hagi." — Karl-Heinz Rummenigge He grew up in the Pantelimon neighborhood and started to play football at the age of seven at Progresul București. Subsequently, at the age of nine and a half, he moved to Steaua București's youth center where he was coached by Francisc Fabian.

Răducanu made his Divizia A debut on 22 April 1973, playing under coach Gheorghe Constantin in Steaua's 2–0 loss to CSM Reșița. The coach also used him until the 63rd minute when he replaced him with Viorel Năstase in the 1–0 victory against CSU Galați in the Cupa României final. Răducanu won another title under coach Jenei in the 1977–78 season for which he contributed with 18 goals in 31 matches. In the 1979–80 season, he netted a personal record of 23 goals, being the league second top-scorer, having one fewer than Universitatea Cluj's Septimiu Câmpeanu.

Răducanu also played 11 matches in which he scored five goals in European competitions for Steaua. In 1980 he was named the Romanian Footballer of the Year and was nominated for the Ballon d'Or. During these years he scored three league goals in the derby against Dinamo, as his side earned two victories and one loss, also netting once in a Cupa României victory. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 June 1981 in a 2–1 away win over FCM Galați, totaling 229 appearances with 94 goals in the competition. In his native Romania this act was considered a desertion, as he was a captain in the Army, therefore he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in his absence. Once in West Germany he signed with both Hannover 96 and Borussia Dortmund, and as a result was suspended by UEFA for one year. In order to have his services, Borussia paid half a million deutschmarks to Hannover, and Răducanu made his debut in Bundesliga on 17 August 1982 under coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp in a 1–1 draw against VfB Stuttgart. In 2022, the German newspaper Bild included Răducanu in Borussia Dortmund's best 50 players of all time, placing him in 50th place.

FC Zürich In 1988 Răducanu signed a contract in Switzerland with FC Zürich. There, he played 47 league matches, scoring 12 goals and winning the promotion to the top league Nationalliga A in his second season. He played another two games during those qualifiers, scoring a goal in each of them, a 2–1 loss to Yugoslavia and a 2–0 win in the second leg against Cyprus. In 1994 he opened a football school in Dortmund and Mario Götze trained at his academy when he was 10 years old.

Personal life His uncle, Marin Voinea, was also a footballer.