Victor Pițurcă
_2018_Sports_Festival_-_meciul_amintirilor._(52810598464)_(cropped).jpg) Pițurcă in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 8 May 1956 | ||
| Place of birth | Orodel, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1964–1974 | Universitatea Craiova | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1974–1977 | Universitatea Craiova | 8 | (0) |
| 1974–1975 | → Dinamo Slatina (loan) | ||
| 1977–1979 | Pandurii Târgu Jiu | ||
| 1979–1983 | Olt Scornicești | 118 | (28) |
| 1983–1989 | Steaua București | 175 | (137) |
| 1989–1990 | Lens | 28 | (4) |
| Total | 329 | (169) | |
| International career | |||
| 1985–1987 | Romania | 13 | (6) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1991–1992 | Steaua București (assistant) | ||
| 1992 | Steaua București | ||
| 1994–1995 | FC Universitatea Craiova | ||
| 1996–1998 | Romania U21 | ||
| 1998–1999 | Romania | ||
| 2000–2002 | Steaua București | ||
| 2002–2004 | Steaua București | ||
| 2004–2009 | Romania | ||
| 2010 | Steaua București | ||
| 2010 | FC Universitatea Craiova | ||
| 2011–2014 | Romania | ||
| 2014–2015 | Al-Ittihad | ||
| 2015–2016 | Al-Ittihad | ||
| 2019–2020 | Universitatea Craiova | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Victor Pițurcă (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈviktor piˈt͡surkə]; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player.
Club career
[edit]Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Universitatea Craiova.[1][2][3][4][5] He started his senior career in 1974, when he was loaned for one year to Dinamo Slatina in Divizia B.[1][2][3][5] When he returned to "U" Craiova, coach Constantin Cernăianu gave him his Divizia A debut on 19 November 1975 in a 4–0 home win over Argeș Pitești.[1][2] However, during his two seasons spent at Craiova, he played rarely, so he went again in Divizia B, this time at Pandurii Târgu Jiu.[2][3][4][5] There, in his first season he worked with coach Constantin Oțet and netted over half of the total 37 goals scored by the team, but the club was relegated to Divizia C.[2][6][7] In the 1978–79 season, Pițurcă scored 46 goals of Pandurii's total of 98, helping them gain promotion back to Divizia B after one year.[5][6][7] In 1979, he went back to Divizia A football, as he joined Olt Scornicești, making regular appearances during his four-years spell.[1][2][3][4][5]
In July 1983, Steaua București, coached by Cernăianu, wanted him, but his Scornicești coach, Florin Halagian, tried to retain him until Emerich Jenei's insistence secured the transfer.[2][3][8] In his first season, he did not win any trophies, but afterwards he helped the team conquer five league titles in a row.[1][2][4] First was The Double in the 1984–85 season when Pițurcă was the second top-scorer of the league, having only one goal behind Sportul Studențesc's Gheorghe Hagi, as he scored 19 goals in the 32 matches coaches Halagian and Jenei used him.[1][9][10][11][12] He also scored the decisive goal of the 2–1 victory in the Cupa României final over his former team, Universitatea Craiova.[13] In the following season, he was again the league's second top-scorer, this time with two goals behind Hagi, having scored 29 in the 34 appearances given to him by Jenei.[1][9][10][11][12] The coach also used him in all nine games in the historical European Cup campaign in which Pițurcă was the team's top-scorer, netting five times in all the home matches, one against each of Vejle, Budapest Honvéd and Kuusysi Lahti and a brace in the 3–0 win in the semifinals against Anderlecht.[1][2][5][14] He then played as a starter until the 112th minute of extra time when he was replaced with Marin Radu in the eventual 2–0 victory after the penalty shoot-out in the final against Barcelona.[15] Pițurcă started the 1986–87 season by playing all the minutes in the 1–0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the European Super Cup and in the loss in the Intercontinental Cup with the same score against River Plate.[1][2][4][5][16] He finished the season by winning another Double with Steaua, as coaches Jenei and Anghel Iordănescu gave him 31 league appearances in which he scored 22 goals, being surpassed only by Dinamo București's controversial European Golden Shoe winner, Rodion Cămătaru, who netted double.[1][2][10][11][12] He also appeared the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 victory in the Cupa României final over Dinamo.[1][2][4][17] In the next season, Pițurcă was used by Iordănescu in 33 league games in which he scored 34 goals, being the top-scorer of the championship and European Bronze Boot as only Tanju Çolak (39) and John Eriksen (36) scored more.[2][4][10][11][12] He made another continental performance with the team as they reached the semi-finals of the European Cup where they lost to Benfica, Pițurcă contributing with one goal scored against Rangers in the eight matches played.[1][18] In his last season spent with The Military Men, the team won another Double, Iordănescu using him in 22 league matches, managing to score 23 goals.[1][2][11][12] He also played the whole game in another 1–0 victory in the Cupa României final over rivals Dinamo.[1][2][19] Pițurcă delivered another European performance with the club, playing seven games in the European Cup campaign.[1] He scored one goal in the semi-finals against Galatasaray, a controversial incident where goalkeeper Zoran Simović kicked the ball into the back of his head, leading to it entering the goalpost, but the referee wrongfully disallowed it.[20] He then played the entire match in the 4–0 loss to AC Milan in the final.[4][21] During these years, Pițurcă netted five goals in the derby against Dinamo which helped the club earn three victories, two in the league and one in the Cupa României respectively.[22] His last Divizia A game took place on 17 June 1989 in Steaua's 4–1 home win over Flacăra Moreni, with him scoring a goal, totaling 301 appearances with 65 goals in the competition and 29 matches with six goals in European competitions.[1][2][4][5]
After he won the European Cup in 1986, Pițurcă had an offer to play for Anderlecht, but was not allowed to go there by the communist regime.[23] However, in 1989 with the help of Valentin Ceaușescu, he and teammate Tudorel Stoica were allowed to transfer at Lens in French Division 2, where after one season, Pițurcă ended his playing career.[1][2][3][4][24]
On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu for the winning of the 1985–86 European Cup with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class II.[25]
International career
[edit]Pițurcă played 13 games and scored six goals for Romania, making his debut on 27 March 1985 under coach Mircea Lucescu in a 0–0 friendly draw against Poland.[26][27] After playing two matches in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, he scored his first two goals for the national team in a 3–1 friendly win over Norway.[26] He netted another brace in a 4–2 friendly victory against Israel.[26] Subsequently, he made five appearances during the Euro 1988 qualifiers where he scored two goals in two victories over Albania and Spain.[26] He made his last appearance for Romania on 18 November 1987 in a 0–0 draw against Austria.[26]
Managerial career
[edit]Pițurcă's first coaching experience was working as an assistant of Emerich Jenei at Steaua București.[4] Shortly afterwards, he became the team's head coach in March 1992, winning on his debut with 3–0 against rivals Rapid București.[2][3][4][5][28] He finished the season in second place and won the Cupa României after the penalty shoot-out victory in the final against Politehnica Timișoara.[2][4]