Marin Dragnea (born 1 January 1956) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

who played as a

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 boundarie ...

Club career

Marin Dragnea was born on 1 January 1956 in Slobozia Moară,

. He started playing football at the junior squads of

Progresul București Progresul is a district in southern Bucharest's Sectorul 4, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It bord ...

under coach Nicolae Gorgorin, starting to play at senior level in 1972 when the club was in

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 ...

, being given his debut by coach

Eugen Iordache Eugen Iordache (30 April 1922 – 22 February 1988) was a Romanian footballer and manager. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Honours Player Progresul București *Divizia B: 1954 Coach Jiul Petroșani *Cupa Ro ...

and later working with

Viorel Mateianu Viorel Mateianu (1 June 1938 – 25 November 1997) was a Romanian football player and coach. Club career Mateianu was born in Lipănești, Prahova and started playing football in the Romanian lower leagues at Flacăra Boldești and Progresul ...

. He was transferred to

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 Yekaterinbu ...

where he stayed one year without playing as he suffered a cruciate ligament injury while he was a player at Progresul which recurred when he played for them in a friendly. In the following season he was loaned at

FC Constanța FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

where on 29 August 1976 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 in a 0–0 against

. After one season with 6 goals scored in 30 games, Dragnea left

in order to return at

Dinamo 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 Yekaterinbu ...

where from 1981 until 1984 the team won three consecutive

titles, in the first he contributed with 7 goals scored in 23 matches, in the second he played 30 games and scored 7 goals and in the third he made 29 appearances and scored a personal record of 15 goals. Dragnea also won three

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 ...

with '' The Red Dogs'' and appeared in 26 matches in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions, including appearing in 8 games in which he scored one goal against

Kuusysi Lahti FC Kuusysi (Finnish for ''FC sixty-nine'') is a association football, football club in Lahti, Finland. Its men's team is currently playing in the fourth tier of Finnish football (''Kolmonen''), and its women's team is playing in Kakkonen. The ho ...

in the

1983–84 European Cup The 1983–84 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for a fourth time by Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the final against Roma. The game had finished 1–1. Phil Neal had scored for Liverpool and Roberto Pruzzo for Roma ...

as the club reached the semi-finals, eliminating title holders,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in the process. After nine and a half seasons in which he scored 58 goals in 251

matches for

, in the middle of the

1986–87 Divizia A The 1986–87 Divizia A was the sixty-ninth season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Teams League table Positions by round Results Top goalscorers Champion squad See also * 1986–87 Divizia B References ...

season he was transferred at

Flacăra Moreni ''Flacăra'' (Romanian for "The Flame") is a weekly literary magazine published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile ''Flacăra'' was started in 1911. The first issue was published on 22 October 1911. The founder was Constantin Banu and ...

where in three seasons and a half he made 109

appearances in which he scored 21 goals and appeared in both legs of the 4–1 loss on aggregate in the first round of the

1989–90 UEFA Cup The 1989–90 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus on aggregate over Fiorentina. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competitions history and the third between two clubs of the same country. It was the last season for which E ...

against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

. He ended his career by playing one season for

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

, making his last

appearance on 16 June 1991 in a 1–0 loss against Petrolul Ploiești. During his whole career, Marin Dragnea played 405

matches in which he scored 85 goals and made 28 appearances in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions.

International career

Marin Dragnea played 5 games at international level for

, making his debut when coach Mircea Lucescu used him as a starter in a 1–1 against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the Euro 1984 final tournament. His following game was also at Euro 1984, a 2–1 loss against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Dragnea's last three games were friendlies, a 1–1 against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and a 1–1 and a 0–0 against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Managerial career

Marin Dragnea coached teams from the Romanian lower leagues, his most notable period being at

Unirea Urziceni Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Urziceni, commonly known as FC Urziceni (), is a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Urziceni, Ialomița County which currently plays in fourth division, Ialomi ...

when with players brought by him, he promoted the team from

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

in 2003. After leading Unirea one more season and a half, he was replaced by Constantin Stănici, but half of year later when his former

teammate

Costel Orac Costel Orac (born 22 January 1959) is a Romanian retired Association football, footballer and current coach. Club career Costel Orac was born on 22 January 1959 in Galați. He made his Liga I, Divizia A debut on 22 August 1976, playing for FCM ...

came as head coach, Dragnea worked as his assistant and together they managed to promote the team to

. He also worked at

Poiana Câmpina Poiana Câmpina is a commune in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Bobolia, Pietrișu, Poiana Câmpina and Răgman. The commune is located in the western part of the county, northwest of the county seat, Ploieșt ...

ACS Berceni ACS Berceni was a Romanian professional football club from Berceni, Romania, founded in 2008 and dissolved in 2016. In their last season, they played in the Liga II, in the 2016–17 season. History Founded in 1957, the team from Berceni did ...

, Juventus Bascov and at junior level.

Honours

Player

Dinamo București *

: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 *

: 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86

Manager

Unirea Urziceni *

: 2002–03

Notes

References

External links

Romania National Team 1980–1989 – Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragnea, Marin 1956 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players FC Progresul București players FC Dinamo București players CSM Flacăra Moreni players FCV Farul Constanța players FC Rapid București players UEFA Euro 1984 players Men's association football midfielders Romanian football managers FC Unirea Urziceni managers Footballers from Dâmbovița County