Popescu represented the
Romania national team 15 times and scored one goal. The undoubted highlight of his international career was his appearances at the
1998 FIFA World Cup, where he played in all four Romanian matches, including their dramatic 2–1 victory over
England. However, during the
round of 16 match against Croatia, he fouled
Aljoša Asanović in the penalty area. Croatia was awarded a penalty which
Davor Šuker scored. Romania lost 1 - 0 and was eliminated from the tournament. Popescu began his career with Romanian side
Universitatea Craiova, before moving to Spain where he played with three different
La Liga clubs –
UD Salamanca,
Valencia CF and
CD Numancia. After his Spanish spell he returned to Romania firstly with
Dinamo București before joining city rivals
National București. Popescu then joined
Suwon Samsung Bluewings in June 2002, in a double deal that also saw Bosnian-born forward
Slaviša Mitrović join the
K-League club. 'Gabi', as he was known to Korean fans, made a great impression in the
Suwon Samsung Bluewings midfield during his first season, scoring six times in his 24 appearances. He weighed in with another six strikes in the 2003 season to further endear himself to the
Suwon Samsung Bluewings fans, but struggled with injury during the close season and was limited to a peripheral role during the first half of 2004. Popescu was allowed to return to
National București on a 6-month loan deal in the summer of 2004, where he linked up again with
Slaviša Mitrović. At the end of the year, Popescu completed a switch to Japanese side
JEF United Chiba. ==Career statistics==