Costel Câmpeanu (born 14 May 1965 in

Bacău Bacău ( ; , ; ; ) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. With a population of 136,087 (as of 2021 census), Bacău is the 14th largest city in Romania. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the ...

) is a former Romanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach.

Playing career

Costel Câmpeanu was born on 14 May 1965 in

and started to play football in the 1986–87 Divizia C season at Viitorul Gheorgheni. Afterwards he went to play for the team from his native town, SC Bacău where on 26 August 1987 he made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut in a 4–2 away loss in front of Argeș Pitești. After two years he went to play for Dinamo București where in his first season he helped the club win The Double, being used by coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

in 10 league games, as the team's first option for the goalkeeper position was Bogdan Stelea. In the 1991–92 season, Dinamo won another title but Câmpeanu played only one game in the league, having to leave after the first half of the season to play for Gloria Bistrița as he had a conflict with coach

Florin Halagian Florin Vașken Halagian (7 March 1939 – 12 August 2019) was a Romanian football player and manager of Armenian descent, hence the nickname ''Armeanul'' (The Armenian). With 878 games, he is the manager who has the most matches in the Liga I, R ...

. After one year spent at Gloria, he went to play for a half of year at Progresul București, then moving for one year at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. In 1994 he went to play again for Gloria Bistrița, spending a total of 11 seasons with the club this time, obtaining runner-up positions in the 1994 Supercupa României and the 1995–96 Cupa României while also obtaining some performances in European competitions such as a 2–1 victory in front of

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from the 1994–95 Cup Winners' Cup, a 1–1 against

Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Archangel Gabriel, A ...

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in the 1996–97 Cup Winners' Cup and a 1–1 against

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in the 2003 Intertoto Cup. During his period spent with '' The Blue Vampires'', the team was heavily involved in

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

under the club's influential president Jean Pădureanu, Câmpeanu having to intentionally make mistakes to concede goals, years later stating in interviews that he regrets doing so. In 1999 he returned for a short period at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț where the head coach was Viorel Hizo, whom he knew from his period spent at Dinamo when Hizo was the assistant coach of

in order to play in their 1999 Intertoto Cup campaign which included a 1–1 against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Costel Câmpeanu's last spell as a player was at Aerostar Bacău in the 2005–06 Divizia C season when he was 40 years old, throughout his career earning a total of 470

appearances and 25 in European competitions (including 19 in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

), being nicknamed Burebista, after the first king of

Dacia 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 ro ...

because of his career longevity. On 13 May 2020, '' Gazeta Sporturilor'' included him in a first 11 of best Romanian players who never played for Romania's national team.

Coaching career

Costel Câmpeanu coached Aerostar Bacău, Pambac Bacău and FCM Onești in the Romanian lower leagues.

Honours

Player

Dinamo București *

: 1989–90, 1991–92 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

: 1989–90 Gloria Bistrița *

runner-up: 1995–96 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

runner-up:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campeanu, Costel 1965 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Bacău Romanian men's footballers Liga I players FC Dinamo București players CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț players ACF Gloria Bistrița players FCM Bacău players FC Progresul București players CS Aerostar Bacău players Romanian football managers CS Aerostar Bacău managers 20th-century Romanian sportsmen