Mircea Petescu (15 May 1942 – 16 December 2018) was a Romanian 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, rugby ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

.Mircea Petescu: "Eu l-am descoperit pe Van Gaal!" Cine e Mircea Petescu?
– Libertatea

Playing career

Club career

Mircea Petescu was born on 15 May 1942 in

Pecica Pecica (; hu, Pécska; german: Petschka; sr, Печка/''Pečka'') is a town in Arad County, Romania. In ancient times it was a Dacian fortress called Ziridava and today it is an important archeological site.Barbara Ann Kipfer, ''Encyclopedic ...

. He made his Divizia A debut on 6 September 1959 playing for

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 a 2–2 against Steagul Roșu Brașov. After only one season spent at UTA, he went to play for

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Știința Timișoara for three seasons, a club which loaned him at Viitorul București for a half-season. In 1963, Petescu went to play for Steaua București for four seasons, where he helped the team win two Cupa României. In 1967, he returned at UTA, where he would play for six seasons, helping the team win two Divizia A titles, contributing at the first with 8 goals scored in 27 appearances and in the second with 30 games played with one goal scored, also leading the team as captain when they managed to eliminate the defending European Cup champions

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

in the 1970–71 European Cup season. Petescu ended his playing career at FC Dordrecht in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, he has a total of 326 Divizia A appearances in which he scored 24 goals and 22 appearances in European competitions.

International career

Mircea Petescu played two games 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 on 27 October 1968 under coach Angelo Niculescu in a 3–0 loss 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 1970 World Cup qualifiers. His second game was a friendly which ended 0–0 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He also played three games for Romania's Olympic team at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

, helping the team finish in the 5th place.

Managerial career

After years of preparation, Petescu and his wife defected while on a state-approved vacation to the

. There he started a coaching career and became known for promoting youngsters in the teams he coached. He coached

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spe ...

at Telstar and Sparta and discovered

Danny Blind Dirk Franciscus "Danny" Blind (; born 1 August 1961) is a Dutch former football player and coach. He played as a defender for Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and the Netherlands national team. As coach he has managed Ajax and the Netherlands national te ...

amongst many other players.Roemeense krant betitelt Van Gaal als 'Van Hitler'
– AD

Sports agent career

After he ended his career as a football player and manager, Petescu became a sports agent. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Petescu made the first important transfer for the Romanian football,

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...

's move from Steaua București to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

for 4 million $. He also worked at the transfers of

Gheorghe Popescu Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football who played as a defender. He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in tha ...

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 ...

and

Dorinel Munteanu Dorinel Ionel Munteanu (; born 25 June 1968) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager. A former midfielder, Munteanu is the most capped Romanian player of all time, with a total of 134 appearances and 16 goals. He played in tw ...

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

Honours

Club

UTA Arad * Divizia A: 1968–69, 1969–70 Steaua București * Cupa României: 1965–66, 1966–67

International

Romania U18 * Under-18 European Championship: 1962

Notes

References

External links

Mircea Petescu
at olympic.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petescu, Mircea 1942 births 2018 deaths People from Pecica Romanian defectors Romanian emigrants to the Netherlands Association football defenders Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Romania FC UTA Arad players FC Politehnica Timișoara players FC Steaua București players Liga I players FC Dordrecht players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian football managers SC Telstar managers Sparta Rotterdam managers FC Dordrecht managers Go Ahead Eagles managers Eredivisie managers Romanian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Association football agents