Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian

football player 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Playing career

Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 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 ...

, Romania. 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 on 8 February 1948, playing for Flacăra București under the guidance of coach

Emerich Vogl Emerich (Imre) Vogl (born 12 August 1905 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Romania) – died 29 October 1971 in Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian football player and coach of Banat Swabian ethnicity who was a member of Romanian team which p ...

in a 5–0 home win over

UD Reșița UD or ud may refer to: Companies * UD Trucks, a Japanese truck manufacturer * United Devices, a commercial distributed computing company * United Distillers, a whiskey holding company * Upper Deck, a manufacturer of collectibles and trading car ...

. He made a total of five appearances in the first league over the course of two seasons spent at Flacăra.

Managerial career

Mărdărescu started coaching at age 34 in 1955 at Dinamo Brașov, then he went at Dinamo Cluj, afterwards in the 1958–59 season he worked at

Universitatea Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

with whom he finished the season on the 11th place. His following spells were at

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 is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, ...

and Știința Craiova, with the latter being close to earn a promotion to the first league, finishing on the second place in the

1960–61 Divizia B The 1960–61 Divizia B was the 21st season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to three series, each of them having 14 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the series promoted to D ...

season. After going to Gloria Bistrița and

Dinamo Bacău 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 Yekaterinbu ...

for a few years, he went to work at

Argeș Pitești Arges or Argeș may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Romania * Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești * Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952 * Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...

from 1963 until 1965, a period in which the team reached the

1965 Cupa României final The 1965 Cupa României Final was the 27th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Știința Cluj and Dinamo Pitești and was won by Știința after a game with three goals. It was the first cup fo ...

which was lost with 2–1 in front of

Știința Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

. From 1965 until 1968, Mărdărescu coached Farul Constanța with whom he finished on the fourth place in the 1966–67 season. In 1969 he went to work for Romania Olympic/B and undertook a tour of Israel and Australia. In 1970 he was appointed coach at Politehnica Iași where he made a good impression in his first season as the club finished on the 8th place, then in the following one the team relegated but he stayed with ''The Copou Squad'', helping it promote back to the first league after

one year ''One Year'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Colin Blunstone, a member of the Zombies. It was released by Epic Records in 1971. It includes " Say You Don't Mind", which peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. Pr ...

. He has a total of 273 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division,

consisting of 94 victories, 61 draws and 118 losses. In 1974, Mărdărescu was hired by the

Royal Moroccan Football Federation The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (; Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵜⴰⴳⵍⴷⴰⵏⵜ ⵜⴰⵎⵖⵔⴰⴱⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵜⵡⵊⴰ ⵏ ⵓⴹⴰⵔ) is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It beca ...

in order to replace Abderrahmane Mahjoub as the head coach of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. He managed to

qualify Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

Morocco to the

1976 African Cup of Nations The 1976 African Cup of Nations was the tenth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. The format of competition changed from 1974: the field of eight teams was still ...

after passing three qualification rounds, eliminating

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. The final tournament was composed of two group stages, he managed to get past the first one after a draw with

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, followed by victories with

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and title holders

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

. At the final group stage, Morocco defeated

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and once again Nigeria. The final game of the group was against

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

which was coached by Mărdărescu's compatriot Petre Moldoveanu, Morocco needing just a draw to win the competition. After Cherif Souleymane opened the score for Guinea in the 33rd minute, Ahmed Makrouh equalized in the last minutes of the game, thus the result being 1–1 and the Moroccan side won its first ever

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

tournament, also having forward Ahmed Faras being named the best player of the competition. Afterwards he failed to qualify Morocco to the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

, being eliminated at the penalty shoot-out in the

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, also he led them at the

1978 African Cup of Nations The 1978 African Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. The format of the competition changed from 1976: the field of eight teams ...

where they did not pass the group stage as they earned a draw with Tunisia, a win against Congo and a defeat in front of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. During his time spent with '' The Atlas Lions'' he also won the

1976 Pan Arab Games The 5th Arab Games were held in Damascus, Syria from 6 to 21 October 1976. A total of 2,174 athletes from 11 countries participated in events in 18 sports. Sports * Athletics * Basketball * Boxing * Road bicycle racing * Equestrian * Fo ...

and debuted future Moroccan star

Abdelmajid Dolmy Abdelmajid Dolmy (; 20 August 1953 – 27 July 2017) was a Moroccan professional footballer who played as a libero then as a central midfielder for Raja CA and the Moroccan national team. Nicknamed ''Maestro'', he is widely considered one of t ...

. Mărdărescu's last coaching spell was in 1980 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at New York United.

Personal life

His son Mircea "Gil" Mărdărescu played together with

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

for the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

in the NASL, also Virgil coached Mircea at Politehnica Iași.

Death

Mărdărescu died on 11 June 2003 in

Aliso Viejo, California Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 52,176 as of the 2020 census, up from 47,823 as of the 2010 census. It became Orange County's 34th city ...

, United States at the age of 81.

Honours

Argeș Pitești *

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 ...

runner-up: 1964–65 Politehnica Iași *

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

Morocco *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

Pan Arab Games The Arab Games (), also known as the Pan-Arab Games, are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Games took place in 1953 in Alexandr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mardarescu, Virgil 1921 births 2003 deaths Romanian men's footballers Liga I players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Romanian football managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers CSM Jiul Petroșani managers CS Universitatea Craiova managers ACF Gloria Bistrița managers FCM Bacău managers FC Argeș Pitești managers FCV Farul Constanța managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Morocco national football team managers 1976 African Cup of Nations managers 1978 African Cup of Nations managers Expatriate football managers in Morocco Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches Men's association football players not categorized by position Footballers from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian sportsmen