Florin Prunea (born 8 August 1968) is a

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 ...

n former football goalkeeper. He was born 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 started his career for

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 Yekaterin ...

. His breakthrough came with

U 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 ...

in the 1988/89 season. In 1991, he won with Universitatea Craiova both the title and the Romanian Cup. Later he was the first-choice goalkeeper for

for six seasons. Prunea got 40 caps for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, and represented his country at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, 1998 World Cup and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. In the 1994 World Cup, he replaced

Bogdan Stelea Bogdan Gheorghe Stelea (; born 5 December 1967) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and a current coach. Having played professionally into his 40s, he played for all three major Liga I clubs in his country's capital, an ...

as the goalkeeper in Romania's starting eleven after a devastating 1–4 loss against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, which shattered Stelea's confidence. Although Prunea kept a clean sheet in Romania's final group game against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he performed rather badly in the Round of 16 game against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, conceding an easy goal against Balbo in the 75th minute; however, due to splendid performances by Dumitrescu and Hagi, the result of the game was 3–2 for Romania. Another mistake in the quarter-final game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

would not go by unpunished, however. After a goal by Brolin in the 78th minute and double goals by Răducioiu in the 88th and 101st minute, the outcome seemed to be Romanian victory yet again; but with five minutes to the final whistle, Prunea gave giant striker

Kennet Andersson Bernt Kennet Andersson (born 6 October 1967) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Starting off his career with IFK Eskilstuna in the mid-1980s, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Belgium, France, Italy, ...

the chance to level the score to 2–2. The game went on to penalties where Sweden won 5–4 after two spectacular saves by

Thomas Ravelli Thomas Ravelli (; born 13 August 1959) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 21-year professional career was almost exclusively associated with Öster and Göteborg, for whom he appeared in a combined 416 ...

Honours

;Dinamo București * Romanian League Championship: 2001–02 *

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, tradition ...

: 1985–86, 2000–01 ;Universitatea Craiova * Romanian League Championship: 1990–91 *

: 1990–91 ;Litex Lovech *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

: 2000–01

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prunea, Florin 1968 births Living people Footballers from Bucharest Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football goalkeepers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players FC Dinamo București players FC Universitatea Cluj players CS Universitatea Craiova players FC Progresul București players FC Brașov (1936) players FCM Bacău players PFC Litex Lovech players Erzurumspor footballers FC Astra Giurgiu players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Xanthi F.C. players Liga I players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Romanian sports executives and administrators