Gabriel Popescu

Infobox Football biography
playername = Gabriel Popescu
fullname = Gabriel Popescu


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1973|12|25
cityofbirth =
countryofbirth = Romania flagicon|ROM
height = height|m=1.77
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1992-1994
1994-1997
1997-1998
1998-1999
1999-2000
1999-2000
2000-2002
2002-2004
2004-2005
2005
clubs = FC Craiova
FC Universitatea Craiova
UD Salamanca
Valencia CF
CD Numancia
FC Dinamo Bucureşti
FC National Bucureşti
Suwon Samsung Bluewings
FC National Bucureşti
JEF United Ichihara Chiba
caps(goals) = 65 0(0)
93 (15)
15 0(4)
25 0(1)
07 0(1)
09 0(0)
47 0(5)
52 {12}
11 0(1)
07 0(1)
nationalyears = 1996-1998
nationalteam = Romania
nationalcaps(goals) = 14 0(1)
pcupdate = 6 October 2008
ntupdate = 6 October 2008

Gabriel Popescu (born December 25, 1973) is a Romanian footballer.

Popescu went on to represent the Romanian national team 21 times and scored four goals, he was also capped 37 times for the U-21 side. The undoubted highlight of his international career was his appearances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, where he played in all four Romanian matches, including their dramatic 2-1 victory over England.

Popescu began his career with Romanian side Universitatea Craiova, before moving to Spain where he played with three different La Liga clubs - UD Salamanca, Valencia CF and CD Numancia. After his Spanish spell he returned to Romania firstly with Dinamo Bucharest before joining city rivals National Bucharest. Popescu then joined Suwon Samsung Bluewings in June 2002, in a double deal that also saw Bosnian-born forward Slavisa Mitrovic join the K-League club.

'Gabi', as he was known to Korean fans, made a great impression in the Suwon midfield during his first season, scoring six times in his 24 appearances. He weighed in with another six strikes in the 2003 season to further endear himself to the Suwon fans, but struggled with injury during the close season and was limited to a peripheral role during the first half of 2004. Popescu was allowed to return to National Bucharest on a 6 month loan deal in the summer of 2004, where he linked up again with Mitrovic. At the end of the year, Popescu completed a switch to Japanese side JEF United Ichihara Chiba.