Dorinel Munteanu

Dorinel Munteanu

Personal information
Full name	Dorinel Ionel Munteanu
Date of birth	June 25, 1968 (1968-06-25) (age 41)
Place of birth	Grădinari, Caraş-Severin County, Romania
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder / Left midfielder
Club information
Current club	Oţelul Galaţi (Manager)
Youth career
	Minerul Oraviṭa
1985–1986	Metalul Bocşa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1986–1987	Metalul Bocşa
1987–1988	CSM Reşiţa
1988–1989	FC Olt Scorniceşti	33	(2)
1989–1991	FC Inter Sibiu	47	(7)
1991–1993	Dinamo Bucharest	67	(27)
1993–1995	Cercle Brugge	68	(13)
1995–1999	1. FC Köln	133	(18)
1999–2003	VfL Wolfsburg	101	(11)
2003–2005	Steaua Bucureşti	33	(2)
2005–2006	CFR Cluj	26	(0)
2006–2007	Argeş Piteşti	3	(0)
2007–2008	FC Vaslui	16	(0)
2008	Universitatea Cluj	2	(0)
Total		529	(80)
National team‡
1991–2007	Romania	134	(16)
Teams managed
2005–2006	CFR Cluj-Napoca
2006–2007	FC Argeş Piteşti
2007–2008	FC Vaslui
2008	Universitatea Cluj-Napoca
2008	Steaua Bucureşti
2009	Universitatea Cluj-Napoca
2009–	Oţelul Galaţi
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 25, 2008. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of March 24, 2008

Dorinel Ionel Munteanu (born June 25, 1968 in Grădinari) is a Romanian football coach and player midfielder. As of June 30, 2006, Dorinel Munteanu is the most capped player for Romania, with 134 caps.

Club career

During his long career, which still continues, Munteanu was always seen as a player capable of making big efforts. A pure professional footballer, an example for others, he stayed away from drinking and night clubs, thus he suffered very few injuries.

Munteanu started to play football for Metalul Bocşa, a team which offered him the first chance to play in Divizia B in 1986. After one year he went to play for FCM Reşiţa and then in 1988 for FC Olt, while 1989 found him at FC Inter Sibiu.

Dinamo Bucharest bought him from Sibiu in 1991 only to sell him to Cercle Brugge two years later. After two years in Belgium he moved to Germany to play for 1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg between 1995 and 2003.

In 2003, aged 35, he was released from his contract by VfL Wolfsburg and signed with Steaua Bucureşti as a free agent, only to leave the club in 2005 after a conflict with the club's Chief Executive Mihai Stoica and join the squad of CFR Cluj Napoca.

International career

Dorinel won his first cap for Romania in 1991 while still at FC Inter Sibiu. Since then he was a very important part of the national team of Romania, playing in various positions such as left back, left midfielder and playmaker.

In 2001 he won his 100th cap in a game against Hungary in Budapest and four years later he won the 126th cap, making him the most capped Romanian footballer. He now has 134 caps.

Munteanu scored 16 goals for Romania and played at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1996 European Football Championship, 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2000 European Football Championship.

Coaching career

After leaving Steaua Bucureşti, Munteanu is offered the position of player-manager at CFR Cluj Napoca. In this first managerial job, he took the team to the Intertoto Cup final in 2005 and finished fifth in Divizia A at the end of the 2005–06 season. During the first half of the 2006–07 season, despite a good start (6 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats) with CFR Cluj Napoca, Munteanu announced he resigns his position at the club, due to interference with his decisions and lack of support from the club management. Munteanu had a pending offer from FC Argeş Piteşti and he decided to accept it, despite the team being bottom of the first league after 10 games. Towards the end of the season, due to impossibility of avoiding the relegation of FC Argeş Piteşti, he was sacked, only to be confirmed in short time as the new manager of Liga 1 team FC Vaslui. He has stated that he also intends to continue his playing career at FC Vaslui. But after a match of FC Vaslui vs Steaua Bucureşti it was proved that the Vaslui players didn't play fair, they were stimulated by money that came from the Steaua Bucureşti owner to let Steaua win. After he heard that, Dorinel Munteanu quit the team, and spent a period far from the football pitch. He came back as head coach of U Cluj in September 2008, but only after 7 games he quit to go to Steaua Bucureşti. And again, after only 8 games, he was dismissed by the club's president, George Becali.

Titles

Season	Club	Title
1991-1992	Dinamo Bucureşti	Divizia A
2004-2005	Steaua Bucureşti	Divizia A

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 December 1991	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	1–1	1–3	Friendly
2	24 December 1991	Port Said Stadium, Port Said, Egypt	Egypt	1–0	1–1	Friendly
3	7 June 1995	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Israel	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
4	15 October 1995	Všešportový areál, Košice, Slovakia	Slovakia	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
5	6 September 1997	Sportplatz, Eschen, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	5–0	8–1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
6	6 September 1997	Sportplatz, Eschen, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	6–0	8–1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
7	6 September 1997	Sportplatz, Eschen, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	7–1	8–1	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
8	10 October 1998	Estádio das Antas, Porto, Portugal	Portugal	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifying
9	5 June 1999	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Hungary	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifying
10	9 June 1999	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Azerbaijan	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifying
11	20 June 2000	Stade du Pays de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium	England	2–2	3–2	UEFA EURO 2000 Group A
12	28 March 2001	Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	1–0	2–0	World Cup 2002 Qualifying
13	27 March 27, 2002	Stadionul Gheorghe Hagi, Constanţa, Romania	Ukraine	1–0	4–1	Friendly
14	7 September 2002	Koševo Stadium, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2004 Qualifying
15	12 February 2003	Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Slovakia	1–1	2–1	Friendly
16	29 March 2003	Stadionul Lia Manoliu, Bucharest, Romania	Denmark	2–1	2–5	UEFA Euro 2004 Qualifying

See also

• List of football (soccer) players with 100 or more caps

Romanian football portal

External references

• (Dutch) Voetbal International

References

Dorinel Munteanu international tournaments v • d • e Romania squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Prunea • 2 Petrescu • 3 Prodan • 4 Belodedici • 5 Lupescu • 6 Popescu • 7 Munteanu • 8 Chiriţă • 9 Răducioiu • 10 Hagi • 11 Dumitrescu • 12 Stelea • 13 Selymes • 14 Mihali • 15 Panduru • 16 Vlădoiu • 17 Moldovan • 18 Gâlcă • 19 Papură • 20 Stîngă • 21 Ivan • 22 Preda • Coach: Iordănescu v • d • e Romania squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Stelea • 2 Petrescu • 3 Prodan • 4 Belodedici • 5 Lupescu • 6 Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Sabău • 9 Răducioiu • 10 Hagi • 11 Munteanu • 12 Prunea • 13 Selymes • 14 Gâlcă • 15 Doboş • 16 Mihali • 17 Filipescu • 18 Stîngă • 19 Ilie • 20 Moldovan • 21 Vlădoiu • 22 Tene • Coach: Iordănescu v • d • e Romania squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Stângaciu • 2 Petrescu • 3 Dulca • 4 Doboş • 5 Gâlcă • 6 Gheorghe Popescu • 7 Lăcătuş • 8 Munteanu • 9 Moldovan • 10 Hagi • 11 Ilie • 12 Stelea • 13 Ciobotariu • 14 Niculescu • 15 Marinescu • 16 Gabriel Popescu • 17 Dumitrescu • 18 Filipescu • 19 Stîngă • 20 Selymes • 21 Craioveanu • 22 Prunea • Coach: Iordănescu v • d • e Romania squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Lobonţ • 2 Petrescu • 3 Ciobotariu • 4 Filipescu • 5 Gâlcă • 6 Popescu • 7 Mutu • 8 Munteanu • 9 Moldovan • 10 Hagi • 11 Ilie • 12 Stelea • 13 Chivu • 14 Petre • 15 Lupescu • 16 Roşu • 17 Belodedici • 18 Ganea • 19 Lincar • 20 Hîldan • 21 Prunea • 22 Contra • Coach: Jenei