Mirel Rădoi

Mirel Rădoi

Personal information
Full name	Mirel Matei Rădoi
Date of birth	22 March 1981 (1981-03-22) (age 30)
Place of birth	Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder / Centre back
Club information
Current club	Al Ain
Number	6
Youth career
1991–1999	CS Turnu Severin
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2000	Extensiv Craiova	14	(0)
2000–2009	Steaua Bucureşti	186	(12)
2009–2011	Al-Hilal	52	(10)
2011–	Al Ain	0	(0)
National team‡
1998–2000	Romania U–21	3	(0)
2000–2010	Romania	67	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 June 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 October 2010

Mirel Matei Rădoi (born 22 March 1981 in Drobeta-Turnu Severin) is a Romanian football midfielder who can also play as center back. He currently plays for Al-Ain FC in the UAE Pro-League. Radoi is considered a symbolic player for Steaua Bucureşti. He became also a symbolic player for Al-Hilal and in Saudi Arabia, he received in June 2010 the award for the Player of the Year of the Saudi Professional League. His main nickname at Steaua was "The Godson", being the Godson of FC Steaua's owner, Gigi Becali. Other nicknames: "Zorro"; "The Captain"; "The Warrior". Rădoi is well known for his leadership and tackling. He also has the ability to drive forward, where his technical skills come into use.

Club career

Extensiv Craiova

Rădoi started to play football at the age of eight, first as a goalkeeper and then as a defender. He started his youth career at FC Drobeta Turnu Severin and there he was spotted by Sorin Cârţu, the coach of FC Extensiv Craiova, who purchased Rădoi in 1999. Cârţu financed the transfer with his own money because he was so impressed with Rădoi's ability. He noted Rădoi's potential to play at a higher level during his time at Extensiv Craiova. He made his professional debut in 1999, in a defeat against Dinamo Bucureşti on 4 March 2000. Just one year later he signed for Steaua Bucureşti, the club he played for between 2000 and 2009.

Steaua Bucureşti

Steaua paid €110,000 for the defender in 2000. In his first match for the club, Rădoi played very well. He scored a goal at the Ghencea football stadium, when the score was 4–3 (against FCM Bacău), Rădoi equalled the score in the 9th minute after Cătălin Cursaru opened the score less than a minute. His coach at Steaua was Victor Piţurcă, the former Romanian national team coach, who promoted him to the Steaua first team. Rădoi then became one of Steaua's most important players. Rădoi describing the first day at Steaua: "It was like a positive shock for me. Suddenly I was in the same place with players like Iulian Miu, Marius Baciu and Miodrag Belodedici, players I saw on TV. It was like a dream." In 2001, he helped Steaua win the championship of the Romanian league, and after this he won the Romanian Supercup against rivals Dinamo Bucureşti. In 2005, Rădoi won a second championship title, and in 2006 the 23rd championship title for Steaua and his 3rd personal. On 24 February 2005, he won an important match in the UEFA Cup against holder Valencia, and in 2006 (with Rădoi as captain) the team had played the UEFA Cup semifinal against Middlesbrough but lost 4–3 on aggregate. In 2006, Steaua qualified after a 10-year absence for the UEFA Champions League in a group with Real Madrid, Olympique Lyonnais and Dinamo Kiev but Rădoi did not play in the first games because he was injured. During the last six years, Rădoi had been targeted by some of the biggest European football clubs, such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Portsmouth. However, he preferred to stay with Steaua Bucureşti instead and help the team play in UEFA Champions League.^{[citation needed]} In the summer of 2006 rumour was that Rădoi would be signed by Premier League club Portsmouth as soon as the transfer window would open in England. The transfer fee was said to be around 11 million dollars. However, the transfer did not occur, many believing that the 11 million offer from Portsmouth was no more than a mediatic attempt to rise the player's potential transfer fee. In the end, Gigi Becali stated that he would no longer sell Rădoi. Being injured, he only played his first official game in the 2006–07 season on November 12, when Steaua won 6–0 against Naţional Bucureşti. Although he had been absent for a period of five months, he scored a penalty for Steaua with his first touch of the ball. He was a key player for Steaua Bucureşti in his nine seasons, and captained the team for many years.

Al-Hilal

On January 2009, he signed a three-year that will earn him €1,400,000, Al-Hilal has paid €6,000,000 to Steaua Bucureşti.^[1] Rădoi made his debut for Al-Hilal in the local derby against Al-Nassr. Al-Hilal won the game with 2–0 and Rădoi scored the second goal. After the sixth game against Al-Shabab, he won the Prince Cup with Al-Hilal. He was nicknamed "The Warrior" among his fans in Saudi Arabia.

Club statistics

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cups		Continental games		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Al-Hilal
	10-11	21	6	2	0	4	0	27	6
	09-10	23	2	12	0	10	0	45	2
	08-09	5	2	0	0	0	0	5	2
	Total	49	10	14	0	14	0	77	10
Steaua Bucureşti
	08-09	13	1	0	0	7	0	20	1
	07-08	16	0	0	0	3	0	19	0
	06-07	14	1	1	0	4	0	19	1
	05-06	24	4	1	0	17	3	42	7
	04-05	20	1	0	0	8	0	28	1
	03-04	29	2	2	1	6	0	37	3
	02-03	23	1	2	0	0	0	25	1
	01-02	22	1	0	0	3	0	25	1
	00-01	25	1	0	0	0	0	25	1
	Total	186	12	6	1	48	3	240	16
FC Extensiv Craiova	99-00	14	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
	Total	14	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
Career Totals		241	20	20	1	62	3	331	26
Last updated 21:25, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

International career

Rădoi at Steaua

For the Romania national team, Rădoi has been capped 67 times, scoring twice. In 2005, he was suspended by the coach of Romania national team, Victor Piţurcă, for leaving the national team training camp without permission, before matches against the Netherlands and Armenia. Coach Piţurcă recalled him back in February 2006 to play for the national team in a friendly tournament in Cyprus after Rădoi apologised for his behaviour. He was included in Romania's squad for the 2008 European Championships. However, he suffered a head injury in the second group game versus Italy after a clash of heads with team-mate Răzvan Raţ, who emerged unscathed. It was revealed that he would require eye surgery, and also suffered a broken nose and could therefore play no further part in the championships.^[2] After a confrontation with Răzvan Lucescu in 2010, Radoi declared that he will retire from the national team.

International goals

Mirel Rădoi: International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1	16 October 2002	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	7–0	UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
2	5 June 2010	Sankt Veit an der Glan, Carinthia, Austria	Honduras	3–0	Friendly

Trivia

Rădoi has a very strong personality and acted as adviser to Gigi Becali, Steaua's owner and chairman. Becali is also his godfather, and it is alleged that the choice of coach at Steaua has been influenced by Rădoi. It is rumored that the former Steaua coach, Cosmin Olăroiu, was brought to the club by Rădoi. In a 2006 poll conducted by Romanian Television to identify the "greatest Romanians of all time", Rădoi came in 21st.

Honours

Club

• Steaua
  • Liga I (3): 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06
  • Supercupa României (2): 2001, 2006
• Al-Hilal
  • Saudi Professional League (2): 2009–2010, 2010-2011
  • Crown Prince Cup (3): 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
  • 2011 Match World Cup (1): 2010-11

Individual

• Saudi Professional League Player of the Year: 2010

References

1. ^ "Ever-ready Rădoi to kiss Steaua goodbye". UEFA.com. 16 January 2009. http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=rou/news/newsid=793081.html. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
2. ^ Radoi to have eye surgery

External links

Romanian football portal

• The Leader Mirel Radoi (English) (Arabic)
• Mirel Rădoi at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile on RomanianSoccer
• Profile on Transfermarkt

Sporting positions
Preceded by Marius Baciu	Steaua captain 2002–2009	Succeeded by Sorin Ghionea

Persondata
Name	Radoi, Mirel
Alternative names
Short description	footballer
Date of birth	22 March 1981
Place of birth	Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania
Date of death
Place of death