_2018_Sports_Festival_-_meciul_amintirilor._(52809839587)_(cropped).jpg) Ilie in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bucurel Adrian Ilie[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1974-04-20)20 April 1974 (age 51) | ||
| Place of birth | Craiova, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1992 | CSȘ Craiova | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1993 | Electroputere Craiova | 31 | (12) |
| 1993–1996 | Steaua București | 85 | (28) |
| 1996–1997 | Galatasaray | 30 | (12) |
| 1998–2002 | Valencia | 84 | (29) |
| 2002–2004 | Alavés | 22 | (6) |
| 2004 | →Beşiktaş (loan) | 13 | (6) |
| 2004–2005 | Zürich | 23 | (7) |
| Total | 287 | (100) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992–1995 | Romania U21 | 17 | (21) |
| 1993–2005[2] | Romania | 55 | (13) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2007 | Steaua București (sporting director) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Bucurel Adrian Ilie (born 20 April 1974) is a Romanian former professionalfootballer who played as aforward.
NicknamedThe Cobra, he is best known for his spell withValencia in Spain.
He played for theRomania national team in oneWorld Cup and twoEuropean Championships.
Ilie began his career with his local clubElectroputere Craiova before transferring to Romania's biggest clubSteaua Bucuresti in 1993. During his three years with Steaua, Ilie helped the club to three consecutiveRomanian leaguetitles and the1995–96 Cupa României.
In 1996, Ilie was purchased by Turkish sideGalatasaray for an amount of €2.35 million, where he won theTurkish championship in1996–97. After an impressive season, he moved from Galatasaray toValencia CF for a reportedUS$ 7 million, where he replaced in the squad the Brazilian starRomário and took over his no. 11 jersey. At Valencia he impressed from his debut, scoring twelve goals in 17 matches, and thus getting the nickname of "Cobra" from coachClaudio Ranieri, because he was as "lethal as a cobra".[3] At theMestalla, Ilie made a remarkable attacking duo together with teammateClaudio López, helpingLos Che to win the1998–99 Copa del Rey. In 2000, underHéctor Cúper's command, Valencia reached thefinal of theUEFA Champions League, where Ilie appeared as a substitute forGerardo in a 3–0 loss toReal Madrid CF. Two years later, Ilie was a member ofRafael Benítez's2001–02 La Liga winning squad, scoring only two goals in 10 matches because of injuries.
In 2002, Ilie left Valencia to joinDeportivo Alavés but the club was relegated to theSegunda División in his only season. He then returned to Turkey to play forBeşiktaş J.K. before transferring to Switzerland'sFC Zürich a year later. In 2005, he signed with Belgian sideBeerschot AC but never played with the club due to a severe ankle injury,[4] resulting in his retirement from football at the age of only 31.
However, in 2009, he decided to come back into professional football after some discussions with Russian clubFC Terek Grozny but he had to quit after failing his medical tests.
At the international level, Ilie won 55caps forRomania, scoring 13 goals. He played at the1996 European Football Championship,1998 FIFA World Cup and2000 European Football Championship.[5]At 1998 FIFA World Cup, he scored against Colombia one of the most spectacular goals of the tournament. In the period between 1997 and 2000, alongside teammateGheorghe Hagi, he was Romania's national team leader, scoring important goals and impressing with his skills. In 1998, he won the title of Romania's footballer of the year.
He is the older brother of fellow footballerSabin Ilie.[6]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Supercup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Electroputere Craiova | 1991–92 | Divizia A | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 1992–93 | 30 | 12 | — | 1 | 0 | 31 | 12 | |||||
| Total | 31 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 12 | ||||||
| Steaua București | 1993–94 | Divizia A | 23 | 3 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 27 | 3 | ||
| 1994–95 | 28 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 35 | 14 | ||||
| 1995–96 | 24 | 13 | — | 7 | 2 | 31 | 14 | |||||
| 1996–97 | 10 | 1 | — | 5 | 5 | 15 | 6 | |||||
| Total | 85 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 10 | 108 | 38 | ||||
| Galatasaray | 1996–97 | 1.Lig | 18 | 6 | 1 | 0 | — | 19 | 6 | |||
| 1997–98 | 12 | 6 | — | 7 | 5 | 19 | 11 | |||||
| Total | 30 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 38 | 17 | ||||
| Valencia | 1997–98 | La Liga | 17 | 12 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 20 | 13 | ||
| 1998–99 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 0 | — | 5 | 2 | 33 | 12 | |||
| 1999–00 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 36 | 8 | ||
| 2000–01 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
| 2001–02 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 3 | 13 | 5 | |||
| Total | 83 | 29 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 115 | 38 | ||
| Alavés | 2002–03 | La Liga | 22 | 6 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 25 | 6 | |
| Beşiktaş (loan) | 2003–04 | Süper Lig | 13 | 6 | — | 2 | 0 | 15 | 6 | |||
| Zürich | 2004–05 | Swiss Super League | 23 | 7 | 4 | 4 | — | — | 27 | 11 | ||
| Career total | 287 | 100 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 56 | 23 | 360 | 128 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 1993 | 1 | 0 |
| 1996 | 9 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 6 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 11 | 6 | |
| 1999 | 6 | 2 | |
| 2000 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2002 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 55 | 13 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 August 1996 | Stadionul Steaua,Bucharest, Romania |  Israel | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 30 April 1997 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Republic of Ireland | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 3 June 1998 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Paraguay | 1–0 | 3–2 | Friendly |
| 4 | 2–1 | |||||
| 5 | 15 June 1998 | Stade de Gerland,Lyon, France |  Colombia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup Group G |
| 6 | 2 September 1998 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Liechtenstein | 3-0 | 7–0 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying |
| 7 | 4–0 | |||||
| 8 | 5–0 | |||||
| 9 | 5 June 1999 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania |  Hungary | 1–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying |
| 10 | 4 September 1999 | Tehelné pole,Bratislava, Slovakia |  Slovakia | 0–1 | 1–5 | UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying |
| 11 | 16 August 2000 | Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania |  Poland | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 12 | 6 June 2001 | Darius and Girėnas Stadium,Kaunas, Lithuania, |  Lithuania | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 13 | 5 September 2001 | Népstadion,Budapest, Hungary | Hungary | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Steaua București[7]
Galatasaray[8]
Valencia[9]
Zürich[10]
Individual
Romania squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
