Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

who played as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

or a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spend the rest of his career at

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinb ...

with which he won eight domestic trophies. Internationally, Dinu appeared in over 60 matches for the Romania national team and scored three goals. He was named the

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romania ...

three times, in 1970, 1972 and 1974, and in the former year also finished on the 24th place in the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

voting. After retiring as a player, Dinu coached Dinamo București on five occasions among other stints, initially in the role of an assistant. Between 1992 and 1993, he was at the helm of the Romania national team.

Club career

Cornel Dinu was born in

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River. Târgoviște was one of ...

to a Moldavian father from

Bârlad Bârlad () is a municipiu, city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the river Bârlad (river), Bârlad, which waters the high plains of Western Moldavia. At Bârlad the railway from Iași diverges, one branch skirting the river S ...

who worked as a magistrate, lawyer and was a doctor of law and a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

mother from Târgoviște who worked as a economist. He started to play football in 1963 at the junior teams of Metalul Târgoviște, making his debut for the senior team on 17 March 1965 in a 1–0 victory, in which he gave the assist of the goal against

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

in the

1964–65 Cupa României The 1964–65 Cupa României was the 27th edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by Ştiinţa Cluj against Dinamo Piteşti. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament. In the first roun ...

, after being noticed by

Rudolf Wetzer Rudolf 'Rudy' Wetzer (17 March 1901 – 13 April 1993) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu of the first Romanian side to participate ...

who was the counselor of head coach Gheorghe Nuțescu. Dinu also played in the following game of the

in the quarter-finals against

which ended with a 5–0 loss for Metalul where he was noticed by Dinamo's officials, later being brought there at the request of coach Traian Ionescu. Dinu debuted for

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

under coach Traian Ionescu on 25 September 1966 in a 1–0 loss against Steagul Roșu Brașov. He remained at Dinamo throughout his career, winning six

titles, a competition in which he made 454 appearances and scored 53 goals, also winning two

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a football cup competition for Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the country's main cup competition, being open to all clubs affiliated with ...

and playing 33 games in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions. His last game played was a

match which took place on 18 June 1983 against Universitatea Craiova which ended 1–1. During his period spent at Dinamo, he graduated the Faculty of Law at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

in 1972, which earned him the nickname "Procurorul" ''(The Prosecutor)''. Dinu won three times (1970, 1972, 1974) the

award, also in 1970 along with Dinamo teammate

Florea Dumitrache Florea Dumitrache (22 May 1948 – 26 April 2007) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a striker. Dumitrache spent most of his senior career at Dinamo București, appearing in over 200 league matches and winning three national ...

he was nominated for the

. In 1979, Dinu had an offer from

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

which he refused, choosing to stay in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

International career

Cornel Dinu played 67 matches and scored 3 goals for

(75/7 including Romania's Olympic team games), making his debut on 1 May 1968 under coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the coach of the Romania national football team during the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He is best remembered in Romania for inventing the "temporizar ...

in a friendly which ended 1–1 against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He played three games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, also being used by coach

in all the minutes of the three group matches from the final tournament as

did not advance to the next stage. He played 9 matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

where

was defeated by

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, who advanced to the final tournament. Dinu played a total of five matches at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, including being captain in

's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. He also played in a 3–1 victory and a 1–1 against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

at the

1973–76 Balkan Cup The 1973–76 Balkan Cup was the 11th Balkan Cup 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 ...

and he scored a goal in a 6–1 victory against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

at the Euro 1976 qualifiers where he played a total of five games. Dinu made a appearance at the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, two appearances at the Euro 1980 qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 15 April 1981 in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against

. For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Dinu was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dinu goal''.

Managerial career

After ending his playing career in 1983, Dinu became the assistant coach of Nicolae Dumitru at

, managing to win the championship, the cup and reach the 1983–84 European Cup semi-finals. The following season he started his career as head coach at Dinamo. His biggest performances as manager were two championship titles and two cups with Dinamo, also a 1–0 victory against Juventus Torino while coaching Oțelul Galați in the first round of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup, however he lost the second leg with 5–0. He also coached CS Târgoviște, ASA Târgu Mureș,

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

and Olt Scornicești, having a total of 218 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division,

consisting of 118 victories, 35 draws and 65 losses. Cornel Dinu was also the head coach of Romania's national team from April 1992 until June 1993, having a total of 13 games (7 victories, 2 draws, 4 losses) including a 5–1 home victory against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and a 5–2 away loss against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, both games at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.

After retirement

After he retired from his playing and coaching football career, Dinu worked in various management positions at

. He was also guest at various radio and television shows, with football and cultural themes. He received the Honorary Citizen of

(2015) and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

(2019) titles.

Writing

Cornel Dinu wrote sports columns in the magazine " Flacăra" and the daily "Scânteia tineretului" during Romania's communist era, and after 1989 in the newspapers "Sportul", "

Gazeta Sporturilor ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...

", "Dimineața", "

Gândul ''Gândul'' (, "The Thought") is a Romanian online newspaper published in Bucharest. It was founded in May 2005 by Mircea Dinescu, who used to write a daily editorial called "Vorba lu' Dinescu", and Cristian Tudor Popescu Cristian Tudor Popes ...

", "Național", "

Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published du ...

", "Cultura" and "Fanatik". He also wrote a total of five volumes, two of them being about football and three autobiographical: * Fotbal – Tactica astăzi ''(Football – The tactic of today)'' - co-written with Ion V. Ionescu (1977) * Fotbal – Concepția de joc ''(Football - The concept of the game)'' - co-written with Ion V. Ionescu (1982) * Zâmbind din iarbă ''(Smiling from the grass)'' - autobiographical novel (2007) * Jucând cu destinul ''(Playing with destiny)'' - autobiographical novel (2008) * Misterele lui Mister ''(The mysteries of Mister)'' - autobiographical novel (2019)

Honours

Player

Dinamo București *

: 1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1981–82, 1982–83 *

: 1967–68, 1981–82 Individual *

: 1970, 1972, 1974 *

: 1970 (24th place)

Manager

Dinamo București *

: 1999–2000, 2001–02 *

: 1999–2000, 2000–01

References

External links

Cornel Dinu's manager profile
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinu, Cornel 1948 births Living people Sportspeople from Târgoviște Romanian footballers FCM Târgoviște players FC Dinamo București players Liga I players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Romania international footballers Romanian football managers FC Dinamo București managers ASC Oțelul Galați managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers Romania national football team managers Association football defenders Romanian sports executives and administrators Romanian writers Romanian male writers 20th-century Romanian writers 20th-century Romanian male writers 21st-century Romanian writers 21st-century Romanian male writers