Miodrag Belodedici

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Miodrag Belodedici bigraphy, stories - Romanian football player/director

Miodrag Belodedici : biography

20 May 1964 –

Miodrag Belodedici (Serbian Миодраг Белодедић, Miodrag Belodedić; born 20 May 1964) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a sweeper.

Nicknamed the deer due to his elegant tackles, he spent the majority of his 19-year professional career with Steaua Bucureşti (ten seasons), winning the European Cup with that team and Red Star Belgrade, thus becoming the first player to win the trophy with two different clubs.; Sports Illustrated He also played in Spain and Mexico.

Belodedici won more than 50 caps with Romania, representing the nation at the 1994 World Cup and two European Championships.

Honours

Steaua București
  • European Cup: 1985–86
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1986
  • Romanian League: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 2000–01
  • Romanian Cup: 1984–85, 1986–87, 1998–99; Runner-up 1983–84, 1985–86
Red Star
  • European Cup: 1990–91
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1991
  • Yugoslav League: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92
  • Yugoslav Cup: 1989–90; Runner-up 1990–91, 1991–92
  • UEFA Super Cup: Runner-up 1991

International career

Belodedici made his debut for Romania on 31 July 1984 – aged 20 – in a 1–0 friendly win over China. During 1987 he scored three of his five international goals, one in the UEFA Euro 1988 qualifiers against Albania (5–1 win in Bucharest).

Belodedici played in all the games at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States as the national team exited in the quarterfinals, missing his penalty shootout attempt against Sweden in the last-eight stage.; Planet World Cup, 10 July 1994 Additionally, he was selected for the Euro 1996 and Euro 2000 tournaments, totalling four appearances combined and reaching the quarterfinals in the latter.

International goals

Scores and results list Romania’s goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player’s goal.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 4 March 1987 Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium, Ankara, Turkey TUR}} 1–0 3–1 Friendly
2 25 March 1987 Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania ALB}} 4–1 5–1 Euro 1988 qualifying
3 8 April 1987 Stadionul Municipal, Braşov, Romania ISR}} 2–1 3–2 Friendly
4 20 September 1988 Stadionul 1 Mai, Constanţa, Romania ALB}} 1–0 3–0 Friendly
5 6 September 1994 Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania AZE}} 1–0 3–0 Euro 1996 qualifying

Club career

Early life / Steaua

Belodedici was born in a family of Serbian ethnicity in the village of Socol, near the border with Serbia. He began playing organized football at the late age of 16.

Belodedici spoke only Serbian until elementary school, and completed his first four grades in that language. In the fifth he began learning Romanian, which he eventually mastered with the help from his Romanian junior national team team-mates Gheorghe Hagi and Gavril Balint. He joined the youth squad of Minerul Moldova Nouă in 1978, aged 14, his first coach being Olimp Mateescu; three years later he moved to Luceafărul București, a team created by the Romanian Football Federation for the purpose of gathering all talented young players in the country in one squad.

In the summer of 1982 Belodedici was signed by FC Steaua Bucureşti, being selected by the club’s chairman Ion Alecsandrescu, who was in search for a high quality sweeper. He finished his first season with 17 Liga I appearances, then proceeded to become a first-team regular in the following seasons as the club won five consecutive national championships, including two doubles.