In the second of a series of articles Andy Edgeworth looks at a handful of cult Eastern European players who captured the imagination of a generation.
I’ve always loved Eastern European footballers and sometimes for no reason whatsoever. There is something mystically mesmerising about a player with a semi-unpronounceable name and they seem to bring a levels of grit and grace to the game that quite simply cannot be matched by their Western counterparts.
From the Poles of the 70s to the Croats of the 90s, Eastern European footballers have always been a source of immeasurable please to me. As a City fan, Kinkladze, Corluka, Kolorov & Dzeko will always be high in my affections and often for no other reason than where they hail from.
Gheorghe Popescu – A troubling end to a stellar career
In baking heat on a June afternoon in Pasadena, California football fans witnessed an Argentinian team without their talisman Diego Maradona ruthlessly punished by a young Eastern European side led by Europe’s answer to the great man – Georghe Hagi.
While it was Hagi and Ilie Dumitrescu who took the plaudits in Romania’s last 16 win at USA ’94, Romanians knew there as one player who made their attacking flair possible – Gheorge ‘Gica’ Popescu.
Popescu – then playing in Holland with PSV (having been signed from Steau Bucheresti by Bobby Robson) was the epitome of calm on the pitch, effortlessly switching between central midfield and defence, snuffing out danger and delicately starting attacks with an array of passes.
Romania topped their group at USA ‘94 before being beaten on penalties by Sweden in the Quarter Finals but it was only that start for Popescu. Still only 26, he’d caught the eye of Europe’s top clubs and a £3m move to Tottenham Hotspur soon followed.
Popescu helped Spurs to their highest league finish in five years under Osssie Ardiles, scoring the winner in the North London derby in January, before Bobby Robson persuaded him to reunite with him in Barcelona at the end of the season.
Robson instantly made him captain & he played alongside a young Pep Guardiola in the heart of midfield in a side feauring Ronaldo, Figo & Luis Enrique.
During his time in Catalonia he won the European Cup Winners Cup and Copa Del Rey but despite the players at their disposal they fell short in La Liga.
After two seasons Robson was replaced by Louis Van Gaal and Popescu was once again on the move, securing a move to Turkish giants Galatassaray, where he spent four years winning several major trophies, including the UEFA Cup in May 2000 – where Galatasaray defeated Arsenal.
Gica saw out his playing days in Italy with Leece, and then back in Romania with Dinamo Bucharesti before a final season in Germany with Hamburg saw him call time on a glittering career.
He played 115 times for his country, in three World Cups, and was a six time Romanian Player of the Year.
But that was not the end for one of his country’s best ever players. A scandal was brewing in a country where political turmoil is the norm.
Some six years after he retired in 2003, Gica was forced to deny his part in a scandal which involved Romania's secret police attempts to bring down Romania’s biggest club side from within - Steaua Bucharest.
Steau – then owned by the Romanian Army – were the focus of the secret police’s wrath given they funded rivals Dinamo for much of the decades beforehand.
Popescu was the patsy and was on the police’s pay roll. Yet it’s hardly surprising. What could he do – say no?
The public understood it seemed and the news passed. but it seems Gica wasn’t done with scandal.
In 2014, he was one of eight football officials to be handed jail sentences by a Romanian court for tax evasion and money laundering.
Given three years for his part in a scam which saw the state lose €1.7M ($2.34M) in taxes and the clubs lose €10M after Gica & Co registered false sums for the transfers of 12 players between 1999 and 2005.
Still behind bars it is a far from fitting end to an excellent career.
