[2][3] Marian Popescu was born on 14 August 1947 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1965 at local club, Rapid.
[1] After one season he left Craiova and returned to Rapid where he made his debut in European competitions, playing in both legs of the 7–4 loss on aggregate in front of OFK Beograd from the first round of the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
[1][4] He left Rapid after a half of year to go at Divizia B side, CFR Cluj which he helped them earn promotion to the first league.
[1] He arrived at Argeș Pitești in 1970 where in the 1971–72 season he helped the club win the first title in its history, Popescu scoring two goals in the 30 appearances given to him by coaches Titus Ozon and Florin Halagian.
[1][6][7] In 1975, Popescu went to play for FC Constanța where on 31 March 1976 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 win over FCM Reșița in which he scored the goal, gaining a total of 199 matches with 17 goals scored in the competition, also having a total of seven games in European competitions, including two games in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.