Dumitru Munteanu (3 July 1932 – 19 June 2020) was a Romanian

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, rugby le ...

Club career

Dumitru Munteanu was born on 3 July 1932 in

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 of ...

and spent his entire career from junior to senior level playing alongside his twin brother

Anton Munteanu Anton Munteanu (3 July 1932 – 22 May 2007) was a Romanian footballer. Club career Anton Munteanu was born on 3 July 1932 in Bucharest and spent his entire career from junior to senior level playing alongside his twin brother Dumitru Muntean ...

, both of them being known for their

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

abilities and spectacular play. He grew up in

Dămăroaia Dămăroaia is a district in the north side of Bucharest, Romania in Sector 1. It covers about , making it one of the largest neighborhoods of Sector 1. RATB bus 331 and tram 24 serve the area. Prior to 1918, when it was purchased by the governm ...

and started to play junior level football at the local club, afterwards going at Laromet București, before moving at CCA Cluj where he spent only two weeks, then he joined Gloria Bistrița, a team he helped reach in 1954 a promotion play-off to

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

which was eventually lost. He made his

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 ...

debut on 6 May 1955, playing for

CCA București CCA may refer to: Organisations *Canadian Cat Association *Canadian Cattlemen's Association, an advocacy group for the Canadian beef industry *Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec * Canadian Council on Africa * Center for Contemporar ...

in a 1–0 loss against Flamura Roșie Arad, this being his only league appearance for the team. In 1956 he went to play for Petrolul Ploiești where he spent 9 seasons in which he helped the club win two

titles, in the first from the 1957–58 season he was used by coach

Ilie Oană Ilie Oană (16 August 1918 – 27 April 1993) was a football player and manager who represented and coached the Romania national football team. Career Oană was born in Indiana Harbor to Romanian parents who emigrated from Transylvania before ...

in 11 matches in which he scored three goals and in the second from the 1965–66 season, he was used by coach

Constantin Cernăianu Constantin Cernăianu (12 October 1933 – 22 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and coach. As a manager, Cernăianu won league titles with non-Bucharest based clubs, Petrolul Ploiești and Universitatea Craiova. Managerial honours P ...

in 3 matches. In 1958, he and his brother were banned for life from playing football because they were considered "rebels" and "bourgeois elements" by the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, but after one year they were allowed to play again. In 1961 after Petrolul played a friendly against Brazilian team, Grêmio Porto Alegre which ended with a 4–3 victory in which he and his brother were appreciated for their play, they were nicknamed "The Brazilians". Munteanu also helped '' The Yellow Wolves'' win the

1962–63 Cupa României The 1962–63 Cupa României was the 25th edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by Petrolul Ploiești against Siderurgistul Galați. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament. In the fi ...

and made his last

appearance playing for them on 8 May 1966 in a 2–1 home victory against CSMS Iași. He has a total of 136 matches and 19 goals scored in

, 19 matches and six goals scored in

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

and 11 games in European competitions (including 7 appearances in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

). Dumitru Munteanu died on 19 June 2020 at age 87.

International career

Dumitru Munteanu made one appearance for Romania's national team when coach

Constantin Teașcă Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian association football, football play and manager. Teașcă was the manager of Romania national football team, Romania in 1962 and 1967. He managed ...

sent him on the field in the 25th minute in order to replace Ion Nunweiller in a friendly against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

which ended with a 3–2 loss.

Honours

CCA București *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1957–58, 1965–66 *

: 1962–63

Notes

References

External links

Dumitru Munteanu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Dumitru 1932 births 2020 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players ACF Gloria Bistrița players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FCSB players Footballers from Bucharest Romanian twins