Florin Oprea

Florin Oprea (2 January 1948 – 23 April 2024) was a Romanian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was part of "U" Craiova's team that won the 1973–74 Divizia A, which was the first trophy in the club's history.

Career

Oprea was born on 2 January 1948 in Măceșu de Sus, Romania. He started his senior career in 1967 at Universitatea Craiova, making his Divizia A debut on 17 December under coach Robert Cosmoc in a 4–2 home win over Rapid București. He was close to win the title in the 1972–73 season but "U" finished on the second place on equal points with Dinamo București, losing controversially on the goal difference for which poet Adrian Păunescu nicknamed Craiova as "Campioana unei mari iubiri" (The Champion of a great love). Eventually he helped the team win its first title in history in the following season, coach Constantin Cernăianu using him in 23 games from the campaign. In the next season he made his debut in a European competition, playing in a 3–1 away loss in front of Åtvidaberg in the first round of the European Cup, also the team reached the Cupa României final in which however he did not play in the 2–1 loss with Rapid București. Oprea made his last Divizia A appearance on 8 December 1974, keeping a clean sheet for Universitatea Craiova in a 6–0 win over FC Galați, having a total of 102 matches with 94 goals conceded in the competition. He played two more seasons at Dinamo Slatina in Divizia B, afterwards retiring.

From 1969 until 1970, Oprea made six appearances for Romania's under-23 national team.

Personal life

In 2023, Oprea was named Honorary Citizen of Craiova. In the same year he talked about his career in an interview, saying:"There were beautiful and interesting aspects, my greatest joy was when I arrived in the courtyard of Universitatea Craiova. It was a moment of joy when I was informed that I was staying in the group. I did my job, I had competition because in front of me were two experienced goalkeepers, Papuc and Vasilescu. They left, I came instead. The joys were enough, let's not forget that in almost 10 years, only three coaches have changed. Cosmoc took me, Coidum matured me and Cernăianu consecrated me. There have been good times since I made my debut, and it all culminated in winning the title in 1974".

Oprea died on 23 April 2024, at the age of 76.

Honours

Universitatea Craiova

• Divizia A: 1973–74, runner-up 1972–73
• Cupa României runner-up: 1974–75