Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Lucian Ilie (born 14 October 1967) is a retired Romanian footballer who played for Rapid Bucharest, in Sweden for Jönköpings Södra, and Belgian side KV Mechelen, in the Netherlands for FC Wageningen, FC Groningen, BV Veendam, and FC Zwolle. Lucian Ilie was one of few Romanian players who fled the country to escape the communist regime, and moved abroad in the early 1989. Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. At the turn of the 21st century, the game was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries, making it the world's most popular sport.