Dănuț Lupu

Dănuț Lupu (born 27 February 1967) is a Romanian former football midfielder known for his dribbling ability.[1]

Dănuț Lupu
Lupu in 1994
Personal information
Full name Dănuț Lupu
Date of birth (1967-02-27) 27 February 1967
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)
International career
2023-2024 FC Rahova 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.[2][3][4] He started to play professional football in 1985 at Dunărea Galați in the Romanian second league.[2][5] In 1987 he was transferred at Dinamo București where he was wanted by coach Mircea Lucescu, playing his first Divizia A match on 8 March 1987 which ended with a 2–0 win against FC Brașov.[2][5] 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.[1][5][6]

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.[5] During his time in Greece, he also had spells at Korinthos and OFI Crete, gaining a total of 66 appearances with 5 goals scored in the Alpha Ethniki competition.[5]

In 1994, he came back in Romania at Rapid București, but after only two Divizia A games played he went to play for Brescia in Italy, making 15 Serie A appearances in which he scored one goal in a 1–0 home victory in front of Reggiana.[5][7] Then Lupu returned to play for a short while at Rapid, afterwards spending the next two seasons with Dinamo.[5] In 1997, when his former coach from Dinamo and Brescia, Mircea Lucescu became Rapid's coach, Lupu returned for a third spell 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.[5][8][9] In 2000 he returned for a third spell at Dinamo just for a short time in which he made his last Divizia A appearance on 27 August in a 2–1 loss in front of Oțelul Galați, having a total of 228 matches with 44 goals scored in the competition.[5] Afterwards he played for Laminorul Roman in the Romanian second league and ended his career in Israel at Hapoel Tzafririm.[5]

In the European Cups, Lupu played for Dinamo București, Panathinaikos and Rapid București a total of 39 matches in which he scored 3 goals (including 7 appearances in the Intertoto Cup).[5][10]

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.[11][12] 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.[11] 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.[11]

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.[2][13]

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.[14][15][16] 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.[14][15][16]

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.[16][17][18]

Personal life

His nephew, Valentin Balint is also a footballer who started his career at Dinamo București.[19][20]

Honours

Dinamo București

Panathinaikos

Rapid București

References
  1. "La 54 de ani, Dănuț Lupu, maestrul driblingurilor, mărturisește: "Doar de doi jucători treceam cu greu"" [At the age of 54, Dănuț Lupu, the master of dribbling, confesses: "Only with two players I had problems while trying to dribble them"] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  2. "Cum au fost create marile echipe ale anilor '80?. Episodul 3: Dinamo - Show cu doar 14 "câini". Dar de rasă" [How were the great teams of the '80s created? Episode 3: Dinamo - Show with only 14 "dogs". But dogs of race] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  3. "Dănuț Lupu: "Mi-a plăcut mai mult hocheiul!". Cine este omul care l-a făcut să se ducă la fotbal" [Dănuț Lupu: "I liked hockey more!". Who is the man who made him go to football?]. www.digisport.ro (in Romanian). 3 June 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  4. "Adevărul despre... Dănuț Lupu: "Aș fi fost un bun hocheist!"" [The truth about ... Dănuț Lupu: "I would have been a good hockey player!"]. Adevărul (in Romanian). 9 December 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. Dănuț Lupu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  6. "Romanian Cup – Season 1989–1990". www.romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  7. "Dănuț Lupu. Serie A 1994/1995". WorldFootball. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  8. "Dănuț Lupu, mesaj tulburător despre Mircea Lucescu: "E al doilea tată al meu! În momentele cele mai grele m-a ajutat și a fost alături de mine!"" [Dănuț Lupu, disturbing message about Mircea Lucescu: "He is my second father! In the most difficult moments he helped me and stood by me!"] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  9. "Dănuț Lupu, dezvăluiri incredibile la ProSport Live! Așa a ajuns la Rapid: "M-a dat afară din curte de la Dinamo! Și-a luat doar 800.000 de dolari bani negri"" [Dănuț Lupu, incredible revelations at ProSport Live! This is how he got to Rapid: "He kicked me out of the yard at Dinamo! He only took $ 800,000 in black money."] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  10. Dănuț Lupu at WorldFootball.net
  11. "Dănuț Lupu". European Football. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  12. "Denmark 3-0 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  13. "Dezvăluire teribilă: Lupu după gratii la Dundee! Cum l-a scos "Il Luce" din celulă" [Terrible revelation: Lupu behind bars in Dundee! How "Il Luce" got him out of the cell]. www.fanatik.ro (in Romanian). 18 February 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  14. "Atena, cosmarul lui Danut Lupu" [Athens, Danut Lupu's nightmare] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 29 November 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  15. "Dănuţ Lupu despre momentul în care a fost arestat în Grecia: "Eu cu hoţii, Maradona cu drogurile! Noi eram şefii Mafiei!"" [Danut Lupu about the moment he was arrested in Greece: "Me with the thieves, Maradona with the drugs! We were the Mafia bosses!"] (in Romanian). Romaniatv.net. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  16. "Top 5 fotbaliști români arestați în străinătate" [Top 5 Romanian footballers arrested abroad] (in Romanian). Theplaymaker.ro. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  17. "Lupu are din nou probleme cu Poliția" [Lupu has problems with the police again]. Libertatea (in Romanian). 23 April 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  18. "Dănuț Lupu: "Cine să facă șmecherii cu mine?"" [Dănuț Lupu: "Who can do tricks with me?"]. Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian). 6 October 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  19. "Puştiul cu numele greu! Valentin Balint a învăţat fotbal de la unchiul său, Dănuţ Lupu" [The kid with a heavy name! Valentin Balint learned to play football from his uncle Danuţ Lupu] (in Romanian). prosport.ro. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  20. "El e pustiul MAGIC pe care Dinamo il creste s-o DISTRUGA pe Steaua! Ce mesaj are pentru fane" [He is the MAGICAL kid that Dinamo grows to DESTROY Steaua! What message does he has for his female fans] (in Romanian). sport.ro. Retrieved 7 October 2017.

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