Claudiu Răducanu

Claudiu Nicu Răducanu (born 3 December 1976) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a striker.

Club career
Claudiu Răducanu was born in Craiova on 3 December 1976 and started playing football at the youth centers of Universitatea Craiova and CSȘ Craiova. He made his Divizia A debut on 24 September 1994, playing for Electroputere Craiova in a 4–0 loss against Inter Sibiu. He was transferred by Steaua București for 150.000$ in 2000 where under the guidance of coach Victor Pițurcă he helped the team win the 2000–01 Divizia A title by being its top-goalscorer as he netted the goal 12 times in 24 appearances, also winning the 2001 Supercupa României when he played all the minutes in the 2–1 victory in front of rivals Dinamo București and managed to become the 2002–03 top-goalscorer of the season with 21 goals. He also has 11 matches played with 7 goals scored for the Military Men in European competitions, most notably in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup season when he scored two goals in both legs of the first round as the team defeated Southampton 2–1 on aggregate and one goal in the first leg of the following round when Steaua lost 2–1 on aggregate against Liverpool. In 2004 Espanyol Barcelona paid Steaua București 1.3 million€ for his transfer. At Espanyol he is best remembered after scoring the victory goal in the 89th minute of his Primera División debut, a 1–0 against Villarreal and at the end of the game he threw his shirt to the stand where the team's fans where staying, but as a lot of them tried to grab it, the railing broke and they fell on the ground. He also scored two goals in a 3–2 victory against Atlético Madrid, having a total of three goals scored in 11 Primera División matches. He went to play for Arminia Bielefeld, making 5 appearances without scoring in Bundesliga. In his following years, Răducanu became a journeyman, playing for various teams and leagues from Romania and worldwide, having a total of 154 appearances with 64 goals in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A.

International career
Claudiu Răducanu played two friendly games for Romania, making his debut on 30 April 2003 under coach Anghel Iordănescu in a 1–0 victory against Lithuania. His second game was a 1–0 loss against Italy.

Controversy
In October 2014, Răducanu was arrested for the use of fake credit cards and for trying to bribe a police officer in Cancun, Mexico, spending one month and a half in jail.

Honours
Extensiv Craiova Steaua București
 * Divizia B: 1998–99
 * Divizia A: 2000–01
 * Supercupa României: 2001

Individual
 * Divizia A top scorer: 2002–03