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Dănuț Lupu (born 27 February 1967) is a Romanian former football midfielder.

Dănuț Lupu

Lupu in 1994
Personal information
Full name	Dănuț Lupu
Date of birth	(1967-02-27) 27 February 1967 (age 55)
Place of birth	Galați, Romania
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Youth career
	Dunărea Galați
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1985–1987	Dunărea Galați
1987–1990	Dinamo București	90	(17)
1990–1991	Panathinaikos	10	(1)
1991–1993	Korinthos	47	(3)
1993–1994	OFI Crete	9	(1)
1994	Rapid București	2	(0)
1994–1995	Brescia	15	(1)
1995	Rapid București	13	(6)
1995–1997	Dinamo București	42	(7)
1997–2000	Rapid București	77	(13)
2000–2001	Dinamo București	4	(1)
2001	Laminorul Roman	1	(0)
2001	Tzafririm Holon	1	(0)
Total		311	(50)
National team
1989–1998	Romania	14	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Dănuț Lupu played football and ice hockey simultaneously until the age of 14, when he decided to concentrate exclusively on his football career.[1][2] He started to play professional football in 1985, at Dunarea Galați in the Romanian second league.[3] He was transferred at Dinamo București and played his first game in Divizia A on 8 March 1987 which ended with a 2–0 win against FC Brașov.[3] In his first two seasons at Dinamo, the club finished runner-up in the championship but succeeded to win in the 1989–90 season the Divizia A title, with Lupu contributing with 6 goals scored in 22 Divizia A matches and the cup in which he scored one goal in the 6–4 victory from the final against Steaua București, also the team reached the 1989–90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals with Lupu playing 7 games in the campaign.[3][4][5]

After the fall of communism in December 1989, Lupu moved to Greece and signed with Panathinaikos, winning with The Greens the championship, although he played there only 10 league games in which he scored one goal.[3] During his time in Greece, he also had spells at Korinthos and OFI Crete.[3]

In 1994, he came back in Romania at Rapid București, but after only two Divizia A games played he went to Brescia in Italy.[3] Lupu spent the next two seasons with Dinamo București.[3] In 1997, when his former coach from Dinamo and Brescia, Mircea Lucescu became Rapid's coach Lupu returned and after finishing runner-up in the first season, he won the championship in the following one, contributing with 5 goals scored in 28 matches.[3][6][7] In 2000 he returned for a third spell at Dinamo just for a short time, then he played for Laminorul Roman in the Romanian second league and ended his career in Israel at Hapoel Tzafririm.[3]

In the European Cups, Lupu played for Dinamo București, Panathinaikos and Rapid București a total of 39 matches and scored 3 goals (including 7 appearances in the Intertoto Cup).[3][8]

International career

Dănuț Lupu played 14 matches without scoring for Romania, making his debut on 11 October 1989 when coach Emerich Jenei sent him on the field in the 64th minute in order to replace Ioan Sabău in a 1990 World Cup qualifiers match which ended with a 3–0 loss against Denmark, also appearing in the second leg which ended with a 3–1 victory.[9][10] He appeared in two games at the 1990 World Cup, a 1–1 in the group stage against Argentina and a 0–0 (5–4, after penalty kicks) loss against Ireland in the eight-finals.[9] Lupu played four games at the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers, but was not part of the national team's squad at the final tournament, making his last appearance for the national team on 18 March 1998 in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss against Israel.[9]

Controversy

During Dinamo's stay in Dundee for a game against Dundee United in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, Dănuț Lupu was arrested for shoplifting, but was released after coach Mircea Lucescu went to the police station and convinced the prosecutor to not make him a criminal record.[11]

While playing for Panathinaikos, Lupu was arrested in Athens and spent two months and a half in jail, being accused of being the leader of a gang of Romanian thieves who had stolen cars in Greece.[12][13][14] Lupu claims he was arrested because Panathinaikos's president Yiorgos Vardinogiannis wanted him to sign the termination of the contract and to give up insisting to receive his unpaid salaries.[12][13][14]

In 2005 he was caught at an airport from București with 79,000 undeclared euros stashed in shoe boxes; also in the same year he was caught driving an unregistered car.[14][15][16]

Personal life

His nephew, Valentin Balint is also a footballer who started his career at Dinamo București.[17][18]

Honours

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1989–90[3]
• Cupa României: 1989–90, 2000–01[3]

Panathinaikos

• Greek Championship: 1990–91[3]
• Greek Football Cup: 1990–91[3]

Rapid București

• Divizia A: 1998–99[3]
• Cupa României: 1997–98[3]
• Supercupa României: 1999[3]

References

External links

• Dănuț Lupu at National-Football-Teams.com

На других языках

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[de] Dănuț Lupu

Dănuț Lupu (* 27. Februar 1967 in Galați, Rumänien) ist ein ehemaliger rumänischer Fußballspieler. Er absolvierte insgesamt 309 Spiele in der Divizia A, der Alpha Ethniki und der Serie A. Außerdem nahm er an der Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 1990 teil.

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- [en] Dănuț Lupu

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[fr] Dănuț Lupu

Dănut Lupu est un footballeur roumain né le 27 février 1967 à Galați. Il était milieu de terrain.

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[it] Dănuț Lupu

Dănuț Lupu (Galați, 27 febbraio 1967) è un ex calciatore rumeno, di ruolo centrocampista.

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