Cătălin Constantin Munteanu (born 26 January 1979) 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 lea ...
who played as a
central midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
, currently assistant coach at
Liga I
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 ...
club
Petrolul Ploiești.
Club career
Munteanu, nicknamed "Cap de
Zmeu" ''(Head of Zmeu)'' was born on 26 January 1979 in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
.
He started to play senior football at
Steaua București, making 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 under coach
Dumitru Dumitriu on 16 March 1997 in a 3–1 victory against
Rapid București
Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to:
Hydrological features
* Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow
* Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States
* Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City
Sport ...
.
In his first season spent at the club, he helped the team win
The Double, making 12 league appearances and scoring five goals, also Dumitriu sent him on the field in the 84th minute to replace
Sabin Ilie in the 4–2 victory against
Național București from the
Cupa României final.
In the following season he helped Steaua win another title, this time under the guidance of coach
Mihai Stoichiță, being the team's top-scorer with 17 goals scored in 33 matches, including one in a 3–1 win over
rivals
A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, 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 ...
Dinamo București.
Also he started to play in European competitions, scoring one goal in his debut in the first leg of the 5–3 victory on aggregate against
CSKA Sofia
CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...
in the
1997–98 Champions League first qualifying round and two goals that helped the team get past
Bastia
Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...
with the
away goal rule
Away may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair
* ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis
* Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms
* ''Away'' (TV series ...
in the 3–3 on aggregate in the second round of the
1997–98 UEFA Cup.
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
paid €3.6 million for Munteanu's transfer from Steaua in 1998, making his
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
debut on 30 August under coach
Miguel Ángel Russo in a 0–0 against
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
.
He scored his first goal in the competition in a 2–1 home loss to
Real Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...
.
[ The team relegated at the end of his first season but he stayed with the club in the second league until 2001, being colleague with fellow Romanians Bogdan Stelea and Lucian Marinescu, also during that time the club was nicknamed "Salamanca Rumana", because Ovidiu Stîngă and Gabriel Popescu also played for the club around that period.][ He was bought by ]Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
, but did not play a single game there, being loaned for one season at Espanyol Barcelona in La Liga and then at Albacete
Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...
where he played for two seasons, in the first one he helped the club promote from the second division to the first. Afterwards he went to play for Real Murcia in the Segunda División
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...
where he suffered a knee injury that kept him off the field for six months.
Munteanu went back to Romania in the middle of the 2005–06 season, signing with Dinamo București. In the following season under the guidance of coach Mircea Rednic he scored four goals in 32 appearances, including opening the score with a spectacular shot from 27 meters in a 4–2 victory in a derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
against Steaua, helping the team win the title. He also appeared in 12 matches in which he netted three goals, including one in the 3–1 loss on aggregate against Benfica as the club reached the sixteenths-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup
The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club association football, football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla FC, Sevilla won their second consecu ...
. Afterwards, Dinamo had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, Munteanu playing in the second leg of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, which however was lost with 4–2 on aggregate. In 2008, he left Dinamo to go play for two seasons at FC Brașov, after which he came back to play for ''The Red Dogs'' for a second spell of four seasons. Munteanu helped Dinamo win the 2011–12 Cupa României, being sent on the field in the 71st minute by coach Dario Bonetti to replace Ionel Dănciulescu
Ionel Daniel Dănciulescu (born 6 December 1976) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward, currently head of youth development at Liga III club CS Dinamo Bucureșt ...
in the 1–0 victory from the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
against Rapid București
Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to:
Hydrological features
* Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow
* Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States
* Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City
Sport ...
.[ Afterwards Bonetti used him all the minutes in the victory at the ]penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
against CFR Cluj
Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...
from the 2012 Supercupa României where Munteanu netted his shot. In 2014 he left Dinamo, ending his career by playing another half of year at FC Brașov and a half a year at Viitorul Constanța where on 15 March 2015 he made his last Liga I
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 ...
appearance in a 2–1 away victory against CFR Cluj. Munteanu has a total of 56 matches and four goals scored in La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
, 107 matches and 19 goals in Segunda División, 280 games and 37 goals in Liga I and 36 games played with eight goals netted in European competitions.
International career
Munteanu played 17 matches and scored one goal for Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, making his debut on 19 November 1997, when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in order to replace Viorel Moldovan
Viorel Dinu Moldovan (born 8 July 1972) is a Romanian football manager and former player.
A former striker, Moldovan most successful years of his career were playing for Neuchâtel Xamax and Grasshoppers between 1996 and 1998 in Switzerland ...
at half-time in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
played on Lluís Sitjar Stadium from Palma de Mallorca
Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...
. He played four games and scored one goal at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers, but was not a part of the squad that went at the final tournament. He played five games at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, including his last appearance for the national team which took place on 2 June 2001 in a 2–0 victory against Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Munteanu goal.''
Honours
Steaua București
*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 ...
: 1996–97, 1997–98
*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 ...
: 1996–97
Dinamo București
*Liga I
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 ...
: 2006–07
*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 ...
: 2011–12
*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 ...
: 2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Catalin
1979 births
Living people
Footballers from Bucharest
Romanian men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Romania men's international footballers
Romania men's under-21 international footballers
FCSB players
UD Salamanca players
Atlético Madrid footballers
RCD Espanyol footballers
Albacete Balompié players
Real Murcia CF players
FC Dinamo București players
FC Brașov (1936) players
FC Viitorul Constanța players
Liga I players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Romanian football managers
FC Petrolul Ploiești managers