Cornel Dinu

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Cornel Dinu
Cornel Dinu 2.jpg
Personal information
Date of birth (1948-08-02) 2 August 1948 (age 76)
Place of birth Târgoviște, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Sweeper, defensive midfielder
Youth career
1963–1965 Metalul Târgoviște
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1965–1966 Metalul Târgoviște
1966–1983 Dinamo București 454 (53)
Total454(53)
International career
1968–1981 Romania 67 (3)
Managerial career
1983–1984 Dinamo București (assistant)
1984–1985 Dinamo București
1985–1987 CS Târgoviște
1987–1988 ASA Târgu Mureș
1988 Oțelul Galați
1989 Universitatea Cluj
1989–1990 Olt Scornicești
1992–1993 Romania
1996 Dinamo București (caretaker)
1998–2001 Dinamo București
2002–2003 Dinamo București
2013– Dinamo București (board member)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder.

Contents

He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spend the rest of his career at Dinamo București with which he won eight domestic trophies. Internationally, Dinu appeared in over 60 matches for the Romania national team and scored three goals. He was named the Romanian Footballer of the Year three times, in 1970, 1972 and 1974, and in the former year also finished on the 24th place in the Ballon d'Or voting.

After retiring as a player, Dinu coached Dinamo București on five occasions among other stints, initially in the role of an assistant. Between 1992 and 1993, he was at the helm of the Romania national team.

Club career

"Cornel Dinu, the serious player, who never smiles and maybe that's why he doesn't tremble in front of anyone, even if he has to face an entire stadium. For him, football was never just a game."

– Journalist Ioan Chirilă's words about Dinu in 1974 [1]

Cornel Dinu was born in Târgoviște to a Romanian father from Bârlad who worked as a magistrate, lawyer and was a doctor of law and a Serbian mother from Târgoviște who worked as an economist. [2] [3] [4] He started to play football in 1963 at the junior teams of Metalul Târgoviște working with coaches Eugen Popescu and Gheorghe Ticușan, making his debut for the senior team on 17 March 1965 in a 1–0 victory, in which he gave the assist of the goal against UTA Arad in the 1964–65 Cupa României, after being noticed by Rudolf Wetzer who was the counselor of head coach Gheorghe Nuțescu. [3] [5] [6] [7] [8] Dinu also played in the following game of the 1964–65 Cupa României in the quarter-finals against Dinamo București which ended with a 5–0 loss for Metalul where he was noticed by Dinamo's officials, later being brought there at the request of coach Traian Ionescu. [6]

Dinu debuted for Dinamo București in Divizia A under coach Traian Ionescu on 25 September 1966 in a 1–0 loss against Steagul Roșu Brașov. [7] [9] [10] He remained at Dinamo throughout his career, winning six Divizia A titles, a competition in which he made 454 appearances (only in one of them coming to the field as a substitute) and scored 53 goals, also winning two Cupa României and playing 33 games in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions, including appearing in both legs of the 4–3 victory on aggregate against his childhood favorite team, Inter Milan in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup. [3] [7] [9] [11] [12] [13] [14] His last game played was a Divizia A match which took place on 18 June 1983 against Universitatea Craiova which ended 1–1, being replaced by coach Nicolae Dumitru in the 25th minute with Nelu Stănescu as he suffered an injury. [8] [9] [12] During his period spent at Dinamo, he graduated the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest in 1972, which earned him the nickname "Procurorul" (The Prosecutor). [4] [10] [15] [16]

Dinu won three times (1970, 1972, 1974) the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, also in 1970 along with Dinamo teammate Florea Dumitrache he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or. [3] [10] [11] [12] [17] [18] In 1979, Dinu had an offer from Bayern Munich which he refused, choosing to stay in Romania, also in 1972 Romanian coach Ștefan Kovács who was in charge of Ajax Amsterdam said about him:"Cornel Dinu could have played at the great Ajax at any time! Why? He is the only Romanian player who has the spirit of total football". [1] [19] [20] [21]

International career

Cornel Dinu played 67 matches and scored 3 goals for Romania (75/7 including Romania's Olympic team games), making his debut on 1 May 1968 under coach Angelo Niculescu in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Austria. [22] [23] [24] He played three games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, also being used by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches from the final tournament as Romania did not advance to the next stage. [22] He played 9 matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament. [22] Dinu played a total of five matches at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, including being captain in Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against Finland. [22] [25] [26] He also played in a 3–1 victory and a 1–1 against Greece at the 1973–76 Balkan Cup and he scored a goal in a 6–1 victory against Denmark at the Euro 1976 qualifiers where he played a total of five games. [22] Dinu made an appearance at the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, two appearances at the Euro 1980 qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 15 April 1981 in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against Denmark. [22] [27]

For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Dinu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III. [28] [29]

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dinu goal. [22]
List of international goals scored by Cornel Dinu
#DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
18 April 1972 Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania27Flag of France.svg  France 2–02–0 Friendly
211 May 1975 Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania49Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 6–06–1 Euro 1976 qualifiers
312 October 1975 Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania52Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 2–22–2Friendly

Managerial career

Cornel Dinu in 2009 Cornel Dinu.jpg
Cornel Dinu in 2009

After ending his playing career in 1983, Dinu became the assistant coach of Nicolae Dumitru at Dinamo București, managing to win the championship, the cup and reach the 1983–84 European Cup semi-finals. [4] [10] [12] [16] [30] The following season he started his career as head coach at Dinamo. [4] [10] [30] His biggest performances as manager were two championship titles and two cups with Dinamo, also a 1–0 victory against Juventus Torino while coaching Oțelul Galați in the first round of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup, however he lost the second leg with 5–0. [2] [3] [10] [4] [31] He also coached CS Târgoviște, ASA Târgu Mureș, Universitatea Cluj and Olt Scornicești, having a total of 218 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 118 victories, 35 draws and 65 losses. [2] [3] [4] [10] [12] [32]

Cornel Dinu was also the head coach of Romania's national team from April 1992 until June 1993, having a total of 13 games (7 victories, 2 draws, 4 losses) including a 5–1 home victory against Wales and a 5–2 away loss against Czechoslovakia, both games at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. [2] [3] [10] [12] [33]

After retirement

After he retired from his playing and coaching football career, Dinu worked in various management positions at Dinamo București. [3] [4] [10] [12] [34] He was also guest at various radio and television shows, with football and cultural themes. [3] [10] He received the Honorary Citizen of Târgoviște (2015) and Bucharest (2019) titles. [3] [4]

Writing

Cornel Dinu wrote sports columns in the magazine "Flacăra" and the daily "Scânteia tineretului" during Romania's communist era, and after 1989 in the newspapers "Sportul", "Gazeta Sporturilor", "Dimineața", "Gândul", "Național", "Adevărul", "Cultura" and "Fanatik". [2] [3] [4] [12] He also wrote a total of five volumes, two of them being about football and three autobiographical: [2] [3] [4] [12] [35] [36] [37] [38]

Quotes

Cornel Dinu was known for his original ironic comments by using metaphors, parables, quotes from historians or classical writers and references to history: [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45]

Honours

Player

Dinamo București

Individual

Manager

Dinamo București

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References

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  6. 1 2 "INTERVIU-EVENIMENT cu Cornel Dinu la 70 de ani: "M-au drogat ca să nu ajung în Ghencea! Tata a ales Dinamo, nu Steaua"" [INTERVIEW-EVENT with Cornel Dinu at the age of 70: "They drugged me so that I wouldn't end up in Ghencea! My father chose Dinamo, not Steaua"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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  8. 1 2 "40 de ani de la ultimul meci din cariera lui Cornel Dinu. Mister visa să revoluționeze fotbalul: "Sper să inventez lucruri noi, poate chiar un alt sistem de joc. Am vorbit deja cu Ferguson"" [40 years since the last match of Cornel Dinu's career. Mister dreamed of revolutionizing football: "I hope to invent new things, maybe even a different game system. I have already spoken to Ferguson"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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  21. "Denise Rifai a rămas mască! Răspunsul care a făcut-o să lăcrimeze. Nu se aştepta la asta" [Denise Rifai remained a mask! The answer that made her cry. She didn't expect that] (in Romanian). Capital.ro. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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  39. "Cornel Dinu face praf unul dintre transferurile Stelei: "E un simplu bucătar de unitate din Legiunea Străină, se împiedică și el pe-acolo"" [Cornel Dinu dusts off one of Stela's transfers: "He's a simple unit cook from the Foreign Legion, he stumbles there too"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  40. "Cornel Dinu îl face praf pe Gnohere: "A părut un simplu bucătar din Legiunea Străină! Se împiedică de adversari"" [Cornel Dinu destroys Gnohere: "He looked like a simple cook from the Foreign Legion! He trips over his opponents"] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  41. "Cornel Dinu l-a făcut "praf" pe Șumudică: "Are o labilitate psihică!"" [Cornel Dinu made Șumudică "dust": "He has a mental lability!"] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  42. "Cornel Dinu a făcut spectacol la Dolce Sport! Cele mai tari declaraţii ale lui Mister în studioul "Minutul 91"" [Cornel Dinu performed at Dolce Sport! Mister's hottest statements in the "Minutul 91" studio] (in Romanian). Orangesport.ro. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  43. "8 declarații savuroase ale lui Cornel Dinu de-a lungul timpului! Dinamovistul împlinește azi 73 de ani" [8 tasty statements of Cornel Dinu over time! The Dynamo player turns 73 today] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  44. "Cornel Dinu, la 73 de ani! Top 10 declarații memorabile al lui "Mister" de-a lungul timpului" [Cornel Dinu, at 73 years old! Top 10 memorable statements by "Mister" over time] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
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  46. "Au fost Hamburg, Crusaders, Real Madrid, Inter. 10 victorii de legendă pentru Dinamo în Europa la revenirea "câinilor" în cupele continentale după o pauză de 5 ani" [There were Hamburg, Crusaders, Real Madrid, Inter. 10 legendary victories for Dinamo in Europe when the "dogs" returned to the continental cups after a 5-year break] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
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