Ovidiu Stîngă (born 5 December 1972) is a retired 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 manager.

Club career

Born in Craiova, Stîngă began his football career at Viitorul Craiova. In 1990, he made his league debut for Universitatea Craiova at the age of 17, in a match against

Corvinul Hunedoara Clubul Sportiv Corvinul 1921 Hunedoara, commonly known as Corvinul Hunedoara or simply as Corvinul, is a Romanian football club based in Hunedoara, Hunedoara County, currently playing in the Liga III. Founded in 1921 under the name of ''Fero Spo ...

. By the end of the season he was loaned to Jiul IELIF Craiova, and returned in the summer of 1991 to U Craiova. In the 1992–93 season he was the team's best player and took third place in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and his side won the Cupa României. In summer 1995, he went abroad to

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 ...

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

. He debuted in Primera División on 3 September against

Espanyol Barcelona Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

winning 3–1. At Salamanca he scored 11 goals, being the second leading scorer in the team, but the club finished last and were relegated to Segunda División. In 1996, Stîngă joined Dutch side

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 ...

. In his first season in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

, he played only seven matches. In the 1997–98 season, he was one of the key players for PSV as they finished runners-up in the Dutch Championship. In 1998, he suffered a serious injury, which resulted a year break in the 1998–99 season and appeared once on the pitch. In 2000 and 2001, with PSV Stîngă won two consecutive Dutch Championship titles as well the

Dutch Super Cup The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

. In summer of 2001 he returned to Romania signing with

Dinamo Bucharest 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 ...

with whom he won league title. The next two seasons he spent at U.Craiova, returning after 7 years. He was loaned for the 2004–05 season to the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

side

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

. In 2006, he was player and manager for U'Craiova in the Romanian second division. He helped his team to get promoted in the first league in the 2006–07 season, before ending his career.

International career

Stîngă made his debut on 31 January 1993 in a friendly game against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

played in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

. In 1994, he was named in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

's squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in the

United States 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 ...

, but didn't play any game. In 1996, he was called by

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), also known as "Tata Puiu", is a Romanian former footballer and former manager of the Romania national team, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following Februar ...

at the European Championship in England, where he played one match against

. He also represented his country at

World Cup 1998 The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

.Ovidiu Stîngă Statistics
'' FIFA''. Retrieved 22 January 2010.

International stats

Honours

Player

;Jiul IELIF Craiova *

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 ...

: 1990–91 ;Universitatea Craiova * Cupa României:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Liga II 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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

: 2005–06 ;PSV Eindhoven *

: 1996–97, 1999–00, 2000–01 * Dutch Supercup: 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

;Dinamo București *

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

: 2001–02

Coach

;Universitatea Craiova *

: 2005–06

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stinga, Ovidiu 1972 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Romanian footballers Romania men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands CS Universitatea Craiova players FC U Craiova 1948 players PSV Eindhoven players FC Dinamo București players Helmond Sport players La Liga players UD Salamanca players Liga I players Romanian expatriate footballers Eredivisie players Romanian football managers CS Universitatea Craiova managers Footballers from Craiova