Cornel Drăgușin (26 March 1926 – 10 October 2021) was a Romanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager who coached the national teams of Iraq, Syria and Romania. He was director of the Romanian FA coaching school from 1990 to 2002, until being replaced by

Mircea Rădulescu Mircea Rădulescu (born 31 August 1941, in Bucharest) is a Romanian former football player and manager. Life and career Rădulescu was born in Bucharest and has appeared in nearly 300 football matches. He was a member of Rapid București at jun ...

Managerial career

Drăgușin had a short stint as football player, and eventually became a coach at the age of 25. He served as a youth coach with Steaua Bucharest from 1950 to 1953. He then managed the youth team of

Progresul Bucuresti Progresul is a district in southern Bucharest's Sectorul 4, Romania. Reference Districts of Bucharest {{Romania-geo-stub ...

, where he won the national youth championship in 1954, before moving up to the reserves and finally the A team, with whom he was runner-up in the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

during the 1957–58 season. After two years, he was named assistant coach being part of the Progresul squad that won the Romanian Cup in 1960.''UEFA Magazine – '' ''Cornel Dragusin, a quiet hero – '' ''1 March 2005, No. 35 , Page 21.'' In 1962, the Iraq Football Association opted for a foreign coach from the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

, and appointed the Romanian manager as head coach of the Iraq national team. He was the first foreign coach of Iraq and at the beginning of his period there, he was supervised by colonel

Abdul Salam Arif ʿAbd al-Salam Mohammed ʿArif al-Jumayli ( ar, عبد السلام محمد عارف الجميلي'; 21 March 1921 – 13 April 1966) was the second president of Iraq from 1963 until his death in a plane crash in 1966. He played a leading role ...

who later became the country's president. After his return from Iraq in 1963, Drăgușin joined Progresul again with coach

Dincă Schileru Dincă Schileru was a Romanian footballer and manager. Schileru was the coach that won the 1957–58 Cupa României, which was the first trophy in Politehnica Timișoara's history. In 2008 he received post-mortem the Honorary Citizen of Timiș ...

for the 1963–64 season, before taking charge of the Syrian national team in 1965. Upon his return, the Romanian FA appointed Drăgușin as manager of the Romania under–23 side for a tournament in Central Africa. In 1967, he returned to Progresul for a third spell until 1969, before moving to Steaua Bucharest as assistant manager. In 1969, he spent nearly two months visiting some of the top English clubs including

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Chelsea and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. On his return, he wrote a book, ''În patria fotbalului – In Football's Homeland'' released in 1970. In November 1970, he was recruited by the

Romanian Football Federation Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the sports governing body, governing body of association football, football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA sinc ...

, for whom he worked until 2002. During that time, he coached the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and t ...

, the Under–23, Under–21 sides and the Olympic team. Between 1986 and 1990, he was

Emerich Jenei Emerich Jenei or Imre Jenei (also known as Emeric Jenei or Ienei; 22 March 1937) is a Romanian former Football (soccer), football player and coach of Hungarians in Romania, Hungarian ethnicity. He is considered one of Romania's best Managers, a ...

's assistant coach at the Romania national team, which qualified for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

in Italy. Drăgușin was director of the Romanian FA coaching school from 1990 to 2002, a period during which some of best players in Romania obtained their coaching licenses including Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Hagi,

Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with S ...

Ioan Andone Ioan Andone (; born 15 March 1960) is a Romanian football coach and former player. Club career Ioan Andone, nicknamed "Fălcosul" was born on 15 March 1960 in Șpălnaca and when he was 14 years old he played basketball and football simultane ...

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 i ...

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian football coach and former player who played as a defender. Club career Mircea Rednic, nicknamed "Puriul" was born on 9 April 1962 in Hunedoara and until he was 14 years old he played table tenn ...

, Gavril Balint and Dorinel Munteanu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragusin, Cornel 1926 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Bucharest Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Iraq Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Syria FC Progresul București managers Iraq national football team managers Syria national football team managers Romania national football team managers