After giving up football, players go on to a career as a coach, manager or TV analyst. But not Radu Ștefan, who simply became a supporter of the team for which he played for more than 15 years, Lazio Roma.
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Radu Ștefan, ardent fan of Lazio. Facebook photo
And during his career, the former Dynamo player was an atypical footballer. Radu Ștefan always kept away from the media, but also from the national team, to which he refused to come even though he was on the wave. And now, the former player proves that his thinking is totally different, entering the “ultras” phenomenon. Match by match, the Romanian is on the lawn of Lazio’s supporters, alongside those who encouraged him until a year ago. Radu was even present in Hamburg, at the Europa League match against Dinamo Kiev, won by the bianco-celesti 3-0, watching the game not from the “official” stand, where the former glories of the club are, but from the section allocated to the visiting fans .
Lazio won another fan: Radu Ștefan
A rare appearance in the public space, the former player explained his decision, for Radio Laziale. “I’m having some great experiences, going away as a fan is one of the best things that’s happened in years. Impressive! At the end of my career I said there will be one more fan, that’s me. I’m always at the Olimpico and away. I wasn’t born a Lazio fan, but I became one. I want to say to the Lazio fans that I greet them, I hug them all, I hope to see them at the stadium watching the team both home and away. Always Forza Lazio!”Radu Ștefan transmitted.
The Romanian retired last year, after making history for Lazio. He is the record holder for the most matches played in Lazio’s shirt (427) and for the most matches played for the Romanian team in Serie A (349). He went through a delicate episode in April, at a Lazio-AS Roma derby, when he was accused of being a fan of Nazi symbols.
Accused of wearing Nazi symbols
Journalists from Gazzetta dello Sport caught a detail: “Radu did it again: at the derby he wore an ultras T-shirt with symbols clearly referring to Nazism”. headlined gazzetta.it. On the images you can see SS Lazio written on the clothes worn by the Romanian, the two letters “S” being written with Nazi symbols.
Probably this fact would have been more easily overlooked by the press from the peninsula, but the Romanian was involved in a similar episode 12 years ago, when he gave the Nazi salute in front of the Lazio supporters. In 2012, Ştefan Radu was investigated by the Disciplinary Commission of the Italian Federation, during a match against Napoli.
He received support from the club and was acquitted. “The Federal Prosecutor referred Lazio football player Ştefan Radu to the Disciplinary Commission, because he greeted his fans with his right hand raised and outstretched, just like the Nazi salute. Also, a disciplinary procedure was initiated against the club for its responsibility in this case”, it was stated in the Commission’s press release at the time, which ultimately forgave the Romanian.
Stefan Radu’s records at Lazio
Arriving from Dinamo, with which he won the title in 2007, to Lazio in January 2008, Ștefan Radu became the player with the most matches in the entire history of the Italian team: 426. The defender also collected 6 trophies at the “Stadio Olimpico”: 3 Italian Cups (2009, 2013, 2019) and 3 Super Cups (2009, 2017, 2019). A decade ago, he announced that he was quitting the Romanian national team.
