Mircea Dridea (born 7 April 1937) is a Romanian former

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 ...

player and manager, who is the current honorary president of

Liga I 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 ...

club Petrolul Ploiești.

Club career

Mircea Dridea was born on 7 April 1937 in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...

and at age 15 he was a category one chess player, being brought by his brother

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

to play football in 1952 at the junior squads of Petrolul Ploiești where his first coach was Emil Avasilichioaie, in 1954 he worked with Manole Rădulescu and in 1955

Traian Ionescu Traian Ionescu (17 July 1923 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and coach. Club career Traian Ionescu was born on 17 July 1923 in Văleni, Argeș County, Romania and started to play junior level football at age 13 at TC Tâ ...

came to the club and formed a generation of juniors which included Dridea,

Constantin Tabarcea Constantin Tabarcea (8 February 1937 – 14 July 1963) was a Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder. Career On 14 July 1963 he collapsed and died during a match Divizia A match against Dinamo Bacău. Death was attributed to unusual a ...

and

Vasile Sfetcu Vasile Sfetcu (10 May 1937 - 16 September 2016) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and manager. Club career Vasile Sfetcu was born on 10 May 1937 in Ploiești, Romania, starting to play football at junior level in 1951 at local club, Metalul, ...

which reached the national junior championship final which was lost in front of

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 ...

. He made his debut for the senior team under 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 October 1956 in a 2–1 away victory against

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' ...

. He won two consecutive

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 ...

titles in the 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons, being used by Oană in 11 matches in which he scored 4 goals in the first one and in the second appearing in 18 games in which he scored 14 goals, being the top-goalscorer of the team. Dridea scored a hat-trick in the 6–1 victory against

Siderurgistul Galați Siderurgistul Galați was a football club based in Galaţi, Galați County, Romania. It was founded in 1955 and dissolved in 1967. History In 1955 Dinamo Galați is founded and in 1961 the club was renamed CSO Galați, and one year later rena ...

from the 1963 Cupa României Final and won another championship in the 1965–66 season, being 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 25 games in which he scored 11 goals. He also did some notable performances in European competitions, scoring Petrolul's first two goals in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in a 4–2 loss against Wismut Karl Marx Stadt, first goal in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in a 4–1 loss against Fenerbahçe and first goal 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 ...

against Spartak Brno, but his most important goal scored was in the first round of the

1966–67 European Cup The 1966–67 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Celtic for the first time in the final against Internazionale, who eliminated defending champions Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, making them the first British team in ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

from a free kick in a 3–1 victory, however the team did not manage to qualify to the next round. Mircea Dridea made his last

appearance on 20 June 1971 in a 1–1 against CFR Timișoara, having a total of 273 matches with 142 goals scored in the competition, also having a total of 21 games with 10 goals scored in European competitions (including 10 appearances and 5 goals scored in the

International career

Mircea Dridea played 15 games in which he scored 8 goals at international level for

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 ...

, making his debut under coach

Augustin Botescu Augustin Botescu was a Romanian football manager who coached Romania at the 1960 European Nations' Cup qualifiers and Romania's Olympic team at the 1960 Summer Olympics qualifiers, failing to qualify for both tournaments. He has a total of 7 g ...

on 30 August 1959 in a friendly which ended with a 3–2 away victory against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in which he scored a hat-trick. He played in a 2–0 home victory against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers after which opponent

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

said that he considered Dridea the man of the match. He also played four games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers with one goal scored in a 4–2 home victory 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 ...

and a double scored in a 5–1 victory against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Mircea Dridea goal.''

Managerial career

Mircea Dridea started his career as coach at a junior squad of Petrolul Ploiești, winning a national junior title. He started the

1973–74 Divizia A The 1973–74 Divizia A was the fifty-sixth season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Teams League table Results Top goalscorers Champion squad See also * 1973–74 Divizia B * 1973–74 Divizia C References ...

season as an assistant of Gheorghe Dumitrescu at Petrolul, but after finishing the first half of the season on the 16th position, Dumitrescu left the club and Dridea became the head coach of the team in the second half, however he could not save the team from relegating 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 ...

. He coached Petrolul Teleajen in

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 ...

for almost two years, being close to promote it to

. He returned at Petrolul to lead them in the 1981–82 Divizia B season, helping the club promote to

. In the winter of 1983 the Moroccan Football Federation asked 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 ...

to send them four coaches, one of them being Dridea who went to coach

FAR Rabat Association sportive des Forces armées royales (, ar, الجمعية الرياضية للقوات المسلحة الملكية), commonly known as AS FAR ( ar, نادي الجيش الملكي), is a professional sport club based in Morocco's ...

, taking the team from a modest place in the league and taking it to the first place, leaving the club at the beginning of 1984. He came back to Romania, working at

club,

Prahova Ploiești Prahova may refer to: * Prahova (river), Romania * Prahova Valley, Romania * Prahova County, named after the river Prahova, Romania ** Prahova Ploieşti, a football club based in Ploieşti, Romania ** Stadionul Prahova, a football-only stadium ...

which he helped avoid relegation. He returned for a third spell as coach at Petrolul after Petre Dragomir left the team after the first six games of the 1985–86 Divizia A, leading the team for two seasons. Dridea went to coach for a second spell in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Kénitra Kenitra ( ar, القُنَيْطَرَة, , , ; ber, ⵇⵏⵉⵟⵔⴰ, Qniṭra; french: Kénitra) is a city in north western Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey from 1932 to 1956. It is a port on the Sebou river, has a population in 201 ...

, afterwards returning to Romania at Progresul Brăila. He coached in the first half of the 1988–89 Divizia A season at Sportul Studențesc București, coaching in the second half at Oțelul Galați. In the following years he coached in the Romanian lower leagues 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 ...

Metalul Plopeni Clubul Sportiv Orășenesc Plopeni, commonly known as CSO Plopeni, or simply as Plopeni, is a Romanian amateur football club based in Plopeni, Prahova County. The club was originally established in 1947 under the name of ''Metalul Plopeni''. ...

which he helped promote to

and Metalul Filipeștii de Pădure with whom he earned a promotion to

after winning a play-off against Foresta Nehoiu, also having a spell in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

at Olympic Alexandria and ended his coaching career in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

at Olympique de Médenine in 1997. Mircea Dridea has a total of 121 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division,

consisting of 37 victories, 33 draws and 51 losses, also he worked as Petrolul's president on three occasions.

Personal life

Mircea Dridea's brother,

was also a footballer and a manager, they played together at Petrolul Ploiești, winning two

titles together and were opponents as managers in the 1981–82 Divizia B season when Mircea coached Petrolul and Virgil coached

Honours

Player

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1957–58, 1958–59, 1965–66 *

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 ...

: 1962–63

Manager

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1981–82 FAR Rabat *

Botola The Botola Pro ( ar, البطولة الاحترافية, translit=al-buṭūla l-iḥtirāfiyya), is a Moroccan professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Moroccan football league system, it is the country's prima ...

: 1983–84 Metalul Plopeni *

: 1992–93

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dridea, Mircea 1937 births Living people Sportspeople from Ploiești Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football forwards Liga I players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Romanian football managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers KAC Kénitra managers AFC Dacia Unirea Brăila managers FC Sportul Studențesc București managers ASC Oțelul Galați managers CSM Flacăra Moreni managers AS FAR (football) managers CSO Plopeni managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Expatriate football managers in Morocco Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Expatriate football managers in Egypt Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Romanian sports executives and administrators