Ștefan Radu

Ștefan Daniel Radu (Romanian pronunciation: [ʃteˈfan daniˈel ˈradu]; born 22 October 1986) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a left-back or a centre-back.

Ștefan Radu

Radu captaining Lazio in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Ștefan Daniel Radu
Date of birth	(1986-10-22) 22 October 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1999–2004	Dinamo București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2005	Dinamo II București	23	(1)
2005–2008	Dinamo București	61	(1)
2008	→ Lazio (loan)	11	(0)
2008–2023	Lazio	338	(5)
Total		433	(7)
International career
2003	Romania U17	1	(0)
2005	Romania U19	3	(0)
2006–2008	Romania U21	13	(1)
2006–2013	Romania[a]	13	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

After a stint in his home country with Dinamo București during which he earned three domestic honours, including one national title, Radu moved to Lazio on an initial loan in 2008. He spent the rest of his career with the Biancocelesti, gaining team captaincy and winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana on three occasions each.^[3] Radu became the leading appearance maker for Lazio in all competitions in 2021, and two years later retired from football.

Radu registered his senior debut for the Romania national team in 2006, and made thirteen appearances before retiring early in 2013, at age 26.

Club career

Dinamo București

Ștefan Radu was born on 22 October 1986 in Bucharest, growing up in the Colentina neighborhood.^[4][5] On 27 April 2005, Radu made his debut for Dinamo București under coach Ioan Andone in a 3–0 league victory over FCM Bacău.^[4][5] In the 2006–07 Liga I season, helped by the fact that Dinamo had a defender emergency, he was established in the starting eleven by coach Mircea Rednic, making couple in the central defense alongside Cosmin Moți and eventually managing to win the Liga I trophy that season, also managing to pass the group stage of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, reaching the sixteenths-finals where the team was eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica.^[5][6] In the following season Dinamo had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, in the 1–1 draw from the first leg of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, Radu touched the ball with his hand in the penalty box after a corner kick but goalkeeper Bogdan Lobonț saved the penalty kick executed by Tommaso Rocchi.^[4][7][8] However the qualification was lost after the 3–1 defeat from the second leg.^{[4][9][10][11]}

Lazio

In January 2008, Italian Serie A side Lazio signed Radu on a €1 million loan deal until the end of the 2007–08 season. Shortly after joining the squad, he made his Lazio debut in a Coppa Italia match against Fiorentina.^[12] He was a revelation for Delio Rossi's team, as the young starlet added extra quality to the backline and started all the matches he featured in. At the end of the season, Radu signed with Lazio permanently for a €3.5 million transfer fee.^[13]

On 17 June 2011, Radu signed a five-year contract extension. He became an important player for Lazio, a team which he captained during the 2011–12 season.^[14] Radu won his third trophy with Lazio in the 2012–13 season when they defeated rivals Roma in the Coppa Italia final. In 2017, Lazio won the Supercoppa Italiana, as they beat Juventus 3–2.^[15] On 15 May 2019, Lazio beat Atalanta in the 2018–19 Coppa Italia final.^[3] On 22 December 2019, Lazio beat Juventus in the 2019 Supercoppa Italiana, with help from Radu. He retired at the end of the 2022–23 season.^[16][17]

International career

Ștefan Radu played 13 games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 15 November 2006 under coach Victor Pițurcă who sent him on the field in the 89th minute in order to replace Răzvan Raț in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 victory against Spain.^[1][18][19] He played two games at successful Euro 2008 qualifiers, being also part of the squad that went to the final tournament without playing.^[1][2] He also played one game at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 22 March 2013 in a 2–2 against Hungary at the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.^[1] Radu retired from international football in April 2013, citing his strained relationship with the national football federation. Despite continuing to be one of the most prominent Romanian expatriate players in later years, he did not reverse his decision.^[20]

On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu for Romania's successful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with the Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.^[21][22]

Controversies

On 6 April 2024, during a football match between Roma and Lazio, Radu was spotted in attendance wearing an S.S. Lazio emblazoned hoodie where the "S.S." was spelled "SS" and stylized in the same manner as the Nazi paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel.^[23][24] It was placed within the context of far-right extremism in football, which has attracted more attention in the 2020s.^[25]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^{[4][26][27][28]}

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dinamo II București	2004–05	Divizia B	12	1	1	0	—		—		13	1
	2005–06		11	0	0	0	—		—		11	0
	Total		23	1	1	0	—		—		24	1
Dinamo București	2004–05	Divizia A	2	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
	2005–06		8	0	0	0	—		—		8	0
	2006–07	Liga I	32	1	2	0	12	1	—		46	2
	2007–08		19	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	24	0
	Total		61	1	2	0	16	1	1	0	80	2
Lazio (loan)	2007–08	Serie A	11	0	2	0	—		—		13	0
Lazio	2008–09		19	0	0	0	—		—		19	0
	2009–10		28	0	2	0	6	0	—		36	0
	2010–11		26	0	1	0	—		—		27	0
	2011–12		21	0	0	0	5	0	—		26	0
	2012–13		23	1	4	1	9	1	—		36	3
	2013–14		25	1	1	0	5	0	1	0	32	1
	2014–15		24	0	5	1	—		—		29	1
	2015–16		13	0	2	0	9	0	1	0	25	0
	2016–17		29	2	2	0	—		—		31	2
	2017–18		31	0	3	0	6	0	1	0	41	0
	2018–19		28	0	2	0	3	0	—		33	0
	2019–20		29	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	31	1
	2020–21		31	0	0	0	2	0	—		33	0
	2021–22		10	0	0	0	2	0	—		12	0
	2022–23		1	0	0	0	2	0	—		3	0
	Total		349	5	25	2	49	1	4	0	427	8
Career total			433	7	28	2	65	2	5	0	531	11

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[1]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	2006	1	0
	2007	5	0
	2008	3	0
	2009	0	0
	2010	0	0
	2011	2	0
	2012	0	0
	2013	2	0
Total		13	0

Honours

Dinamo București

• Liga I: 2006–07^[26]
• Cupa României: 2004–05^[26]
• Supercupa României: 2005^[26]

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 2008–09, 2012–13, 2018–19^[26]
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2009, 2017, 2019^[26]

Individual

• Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year third place: 2017 (shared with Florin Niță)

Records

• Lazio all-time appearance holder: 427
• Lazio all-time Serie A appearance holder: 349

Notes

1. Ștefan Radu previously earned a cap for Romania in a match against Belgium, hence the statistical inaccuracies.^[1][2]