Rodion Gorun Cămătaru (; born 22 June 1958) is a Romanian former 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 ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Rodion Cămătaru was born on 22 June 1958 in Strehaia and debuted in Divizia A with Universitatea Craiova on 10 November 1974 in a 1–1 against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

. He spent twelve seasons with Universitatea, scoring 122 goals in 288 Divizia A matches, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation that won two consecutive league titles in 1980 and 1981, in the first he contributed with 26 appearances in which he scored 17 goals and in the second he scored 23 goals in 33 matches, also winning four cups in the years

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, 1978 in which he scored a goal in the 3–1 victory from the final against

Olimpia Satu Mare Fotbal Club Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare, commonly known as Olimpia Satu Mare or simply as Olimpia, is a Romanian professional football club from Satu Mare, Satu Mare County, Romania, founded on 5 May 1921, re-founded in 2010 and 2018. The club pla ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

in which he scored a double in the 2–1 final against Politehnica Timișoara and managed to reach the

1982–83 UEFA Cup The 1982–83 UEFA Cup was the 12th edition of the UEFA Cup. It was won by Belgian club R.S.C. Anderlecht, Anderlecht on 2–1 aggregate over Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Benfica. Association team allocation A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA mem ...

semi-finals, making 9 appearances in the campaign. In 1986, 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 Yekaterin ...

, where he became the Divizia A top goalscorer and

European Golden Boot The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boo ...

winner in the first season spent at the club with 44 goals scored in 33 games, but as he scored 26 goals in the last 9 matches of the season, his

was retired because FIFA's investigations claimed the goals were scored unfairly and the trophy was awarded to Anton Polster, however Cămătaru was allowed to keep his copy of the trophy. In 1987 he was nominated for the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Pl ...

. In 1989 he went to play in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

at Charleroi, after two seasons he moved 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 ...

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

where he spent three seasons, scoring his last goal as a professional in the

1992–93 KNVB Cup The 75th edition of the KNVB Cup started on August 29, 1992. The final was played on May 20, 1993: Ajax beat sc Heerenveen 6–2 and won the cup for the twelfth time. Teams * All 18 participants of the Eredivisie 1992-93, eleven of which enterin ...

final, which was lost with 6–2 in front of Ajax Amsterdam. He has a total of 378 Divizia A appearances in which he scored 198 goals and 47 matches played with 7 goals scored in European competitions. In 2020 with the occasion of

's 100th anniversary, Cămătaru was selected the best striker in the club's history in front of

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (anglicised to Van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of PSV Eindhoven. A former footballer, Van Nistelrooy is often consi ...

and

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas "Klaas-Jan" Huntelaar (; born 12 August 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. Huntelaar played for PSV, De Graafschap, AGOVV Apeldoorn, Heerenveen, Ajax, Real Madrid and Milan, before joining ...

International career

Rodion Cămătaru played 73 matches and scored 21 goals for

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 ...

, making his debut on 13 December 1978 under coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács ( ro, Ştefan Covaci; hu, Kovács István; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. By winning 15 major titles he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of th ...

in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. He played two games at the Euro 1980 qualifiers and scored one goal in the 4–1 victory against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in the second leg of the

1977–80 Balkan Cup The 1977–80 Balkan Cup, was the 12th Balkan Cup football tournament. It was the first to have a group stage involving the five teams split into two groups, one of three teams and the other of two, with the winner of each one meeting in the fin ...

final. He played six games and scored two goals at the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers, also being used by coach

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 ...

in all three group matches from the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

as Romania did not advance to the next stage. In the following years, Cămătaru played six games and scored three goals at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, four games at the Euro 1988 qualifiers, five games and two goals scored at the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers, being also part of the squad that participated at the

where coach Emeric Jenei did not use him in any games. Cămătaru's last appearance for the national team was in a 2–1 loss against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in which he scored

's goal at the Euro 1992 qualifiers. For representing his country at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

, Cămătaru was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cămătaru goal''.

Honours

Universitatea Craiova * Divizia A: 1979–80, 1980–81 * Cupa României: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Romania, ...

: 1977–80

Individual

* Divizia A top scorer: 1986–87 *

European Golden Shoe The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boo ...

: 1986–87 *

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

(21st place)

References

External links

*
Dutch league stats
– Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Camataru, Rodion 1958 births Living people People from Strehaia Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers CS Universitatea Craiova players FC Dinamo București players R. Charleroi S.C. players SC Heerenveen players Liga I players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands UEFA Euro 1984 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Association football forwards Universiade medalists in football Universiade bronze medalists for Romania