Sergiu Radu

Sergiu Marian Radu (born 10 August 1977) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward in Romania, France, and Germany at the top-tier level (Liga I, Ligue 1, and Bundesliga respectively). He had also earned one cap for Romania's national team in 2007 in a match against Belarus. In the latter part of his career, he also played in 2. Bundesliga.

He won the Liga I (then known as Divizia A) title and a Supercupa României with Rapid București at the end of the 1990s.

Club career Early career Radu was born on 10 August 1977 in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Petrolul Drăgășani. Subsequently, he moved to FC Vâlcea, ending his junior period at Viitorul Oradea. In the following season, Radu played for Olimpia Satu Mare in Divizia B, scoring 12 goals that helped them finish the championship in first place and gain promotion to Divizia A.

Rapid București Radu was transferred by coach Mircea Lucescu to Rapid București where in his first season he scored two goals in 15 matches which helped the club win the title. They also reached the Cupa României final, but he did not play in the loss to Steaua București. In the following season he scored a hat-trick against Steaua in the 5–0 victory in the Supercupa României and 11 league goals as the team finished in second place. During this period, assistant coach Nicolae Manea gave him the nickname "Schijă" (The Shrapnel) after he described Radu's style of play as "quick and penetrating like a shrapnel bouncing off a bomb". In the following season the team was coached by Walter Zenga and he scored 12 goals in the league. He was also sent at halftime to replace Stelian Carabaș in the 1–0 loss to Dinamo in the Cupa României final. Radu appeared in all six matches in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup campaign as they eliminated Tirana against whom he scored two goals, and Heerenveen, being defeated with 3–0 on aggregate by Ronaldinho's Paris Saint-Germain.

In 2003 Radu made his first move to a foreign club, Le Mans in France. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 2 August, when coach Thierry Goudet sent him in the 77th minute to replace James Fanchone in a 0–0 away draw against Lens. However, his French spell was unsuccessful, as he was unable to score in 13 league matches and the club was relegated at the end of the season. He made his league debut on 12 August 2006 when coach Petrik Sander used him as a starter in a 2–0 away loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the next round, he scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw against Hamburg. With Radu's 14 goals and as Munteanu found the net 11 times, together they scored over half of the total 38 goals netted by the team that helped it avoid relegation. Subsequently, Radu was sent for the second half on loan at fellow Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart. There, he hoped that if he would be seen playing alongside Romanian international Ciprian Marica he would have more chances of being called-up at the national team by coach Victor Pițurcă. However, the spell ended being unsuccessful as he made only two league appearances, coach Armin Veh preferring to use Cacau or Mario Gómez instead of him. After not being part of Magath's plans for The Wolves in the 2008–09 season, he was loaned again, this time to 1. FC Köln, as coach Christoph Daum wanted him there. He played 16 league appearances, scoring two goals in a win over Karlsruher SC and a draw against VfL Wolfsburg. Radu made his last Bundesliga appearance on 18 April 2009 in Köln's 3–0 home loss to VfB Stuttgart, totaling 63 games with 18 goals in the competition. In the middle of the 2010–11 2. Bundesliga season, Radu signed with Alemannia Aachen and scored on his debut in the 4–2 win against Karlsruher SC. He decided to end his career at the end of the following season as the team was relegated to 3. Liga, having a total of 104 2. Bundesliga appearances with 19 goals.

International career In 2007, during his prolific season spent at Energie Cottbus together with Vlad Munteanu, the Romanian press insisted that they should be called-up for the national team but coach Victor Pițurcă did not agree, stating about the Bundesliga championship:"It's not what it once was! The clubs are at a low level and the players are of average value." However, later that year, in September after he was transferred to VfL Wolfsburg, Radu was called-up by Pițurcă to play for Romania. He played as a starter until he was replaced in the 57th minute with Florentin Petre in a 3–1 away victory against Belarus in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Honours

Olimpia Satu Mare Divizia B: 1997–98

Rapid București Divizia A: 1998–99 Supercupa României: 1999

VfL Wolfsburg Bundesliga: 2008–09