Dorinel Munteanu

Dorinel Ionel Munteanu ([doriˈnel munˈte̯anu]; born 25 June 1968) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and currently manager of Romanian club CSM Reșița.

A former midfielder, Munteanu is the most capped Romanian player of all time, with a total of 134 appearances and 16 goals. He played in two editions of the World Cup, those held in the United States in 1994 and France in 1998, as well as two European Championships, in 1996 and 2000.

Munteanu was born in Grădinari. He started his football career playing for Metalul Bocșa, a team which offered him the first chance to play in Divizia B in 1986. After a year he went to play for FCM Reșița and then in 1988 for FC Olt, while 1989 found him at FC Inter Sibiu.

Dinamo Bucharest bought him from FC Inter 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 until 2003.

In 2003, aged 35, he was released from his contract by VfL Wolfsburg and signed with Steaua București 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.

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 has a total of 134 caps.

Munteanu scored 16 goals for Romania and played at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996, 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000.

After leaving Steaua București, Munteanu is offered the position of player-manager at CFR Cluj. 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 (six wins, two draws, two defeats) with CFR Cluj, 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 Argeș Pitești 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 Argeș Pitești, 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. He came back as head coach of Universitatea Cluj in September 2008, but only after seven games he quit to go to Steaua București. And again, after only eight games, he was dismissed by the club's president, George Becali.

After a short spell at Universitatea Cluj, in July 2009 he signed a contract with Oțelul Galați. In the first season under his command, the team finished eighth. The next season, Oțelul started the season with four wins in the first six games and climbed on top of the championship. They finished first the Autumn part of the season, and what seemed to be only a flash in the pan, became one of the biggest surprises in the Romanian football. Oțelul maintained its position throughout the Spring season and became Romanian champion for the first time in their history. Munteanu was seen as the primary factor for this success.

The following season, under Munteanu's guidance, Oțelul took part in the UEFA Champions League group stage, but failed to gain a single point. In the championship, Oțelul finished sixth and didn't qualify for the European competitions.

The 2012–13 season started badly for Oțelul who won the game in the first round, against Politehnica Iași, but then registered five consecutive games without a win. As a consequence, Dorinel Munteanu resigned.

In November 201332, he was installed as a head coach at Dinamo București. After only one month and four games in charge at Dinamo, Munteanu resigned at the end of 2012, citing the wish to follow his dream to coach abroad. Just a day later, on 28 December 2012, Munteanu signed a contract for one and a half years with Mordovia Saransk. On 1 August 2013, he took charge of Russian side Kuban Krasnodar, before being sacked on 12 October of the same year. On 14 June 2014, Munteanu was appointed as manager of Gabala FK. Munteanu was relieved of his duties as manager on 8 December 2014, following four wins in sixteen matches.

International goals

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

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	Sportpark, 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 2002	Stadionul Gheorghe Hagi, Constanța, 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

As of 10 November 2019

As a player

Inter Sibiu

• Balkans Cup: 1991

Dinamo București

• Championship: 1992

Steaua București

• Championship: 2005

As a coach

Oțelul Galați

• Championship: 2011
• Supercup: 2011