Virgil Dridea (17 November 1940 – 29 May 2022), also known as Puiu Dridea, was a Romanian

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.

Playing career

Virgil "Puiu" Dridea was born on 17 November 1940 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 ...

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 ...

and started to play junior level football at local club, Petrolul where his first coach was Mihai Cristache, afterwards working with Emil Avasilichioaie and on 24 August 1958 he made his senior debut being used by 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 a 3–0

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 ...

victory against

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est * A village in Țuglui Țuglui is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroad ...

, that being his only appearance in that season as the club won the title. From 1959 until 1961 he played for Știința București 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 ...

, afterwards returning at Petrolul where he won the

1962–63 Cupa României The 1962–63 Cupa României was the 25th edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by Petrolul Ploiești against Siderurgistul Galați. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament. In the fi ...

and another title in the 1965–66 season where he was 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 18 matches in which he scored 6 goals, including a goal from a corner kick in the 1–0 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' ...

. Dridea also played two games for '' The Yellow Wolves'' 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 ...

which include a 3–1 victory, however they did not manage to qualify to the next round. His last

game took place on 3 September 1968 in a 3–1 victory against

, having a total of 82 matches and 12 goals scored in the competition, afterwards going to play for two years 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 ...

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''. ...

where he ended his career.

Managerial career

Virgil Dridea started coaching as an assistant from 1970 until 1977 under head coaches Gheorghe Bărbulescu, Marian Alexandru, Nicolae Marinescu and Adalbert Marosi, being named head coach of the team in the second half of the

1976–77 Divizia B The 1976–77 Divizia B was the 37th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to three series, each of them having 18 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the series promoted to D ...

season, leading the team until 1983, a period in which the team relegated to

but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one season. In 1983 he went to work abroad in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

at Petro do Huambo until 1985, then he returned to Romania at

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 in P ...

which he led for three years in

. In 1988 he took charge of Petrolul Ploiești, taking it from

and later to the

1990–91 UEFA Cup The 1990–91 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale on aggregate over Roma. This tournament also marked the return of English clubs after a five-year ban resulting from the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 The year 1985 was designated as the ...

where they were eliminated by

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. In 1992 he had his second experience abroad going to coach for one year the Syrian national team, afterwards coaching

Dacia Unirea Brăila Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ...

which he earned a 2nd place in

, worked for a while in a second spell at

, had second experience in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Al-Jaish Al Jaish is Arabic for army, and may refer to: * Tala'ea El Gaish SC, a football club based in Cairo, Egypt * Al-Jaish FC (Iraq), a football club based in Baghdad, Iraq * Al-Jaish SC (Syria), a football club based in Damascus, Syria * El Jaish SC, ...

and earned another 2nd

place with Midia Năvodari. He returned back to

football during his second spell at Petrolul in the 1999–2000 season in which he earned two historical victories against Steaua București, a 5–1 at home and a 4–1 on the Ghencea stadium, also a 4–2 home victory against

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...

who were the title holders, afterwards going to coach in the lower leagues for a second spell at

Midia ''Midia'' is a monotypic genus of dwarf spiders containing the single species, ''Midia midas''. It was first described by Michael I. Saaristo & J. Wunderlich in 1995. See also * List of Linyphiidae species (I–P) This page lists all describ ...

, later at

Cimentul Fieni Cimentul Fieni was a professional Football in Romania, Romanian association football club from Fieni, Dâmbovița County, founded in 1936 and dissolved in 2005. The club was dissolved in 2005 after a merger with a club from Buftea, the resultin ...

, Chindia Târgoviște and for a third spell at

Plopeni Plopeni () is a town in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania, with a population of 9,611. Climate Plopeni has a humid continental climate (''Cfb'' in the Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most wi ...

, retiring after a third spell at Petrolul which took place from July until December 2004. Virgil Dridea has a total of 134 games managed in

, all at Petrolul consisting of 58 victories, 23 draws and 53 losses.

Personal life

Virgil Dridea's brother,

Mircea Mircea is a Romanian masculine given name, a form of the South Slavic name Mirče (Мирче) that derives from the Slavic word ''mir'', meaning 'peace'. It may refer to: People Princes of Wallachia * Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418), a ...

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 The 1981–82 Divizia B was the 42nd season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to three series, each of them having 18 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the series promoted to Di ...

season when Virgil coached

and Mircea coached Petrolul. Virgil Dridea died on 29 May 2022.

Honours

Player

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 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

Metalul Plopeni *

: 1982–83 Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1988–89

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dridea, Virgil 1940 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Ploiești Romanian footballers Association football midfielders Liga I players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FC Sportul Studențesc București players CSO Plopeni players Romanian football managers CSO Plopeni managers Syria national football team managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers AFC Dacia Unirea Brăila managers FCM Târgoviște managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Angola Expatriate football managers in Angola Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Syria Expatriate football managers in Syria