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."
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]
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]
Fotbal – Tactica astăzi(Football – The tactic of today) - co-written with Ion V. Ionescu (1977)
Fotbal – Concepția de joc(Football - The concept of the game) - co-written with Ion V. Ionescu (1982)
Zâmbind din iarbă(Smiling from the grass) - autobiographical novel (2007)
Jucând cu destinul(Playing with destiny) - autobiographical novel (2008)
Misterele lui Mister(The mysteries of Mister) - autobiographical novel (2019)
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]
"A funny story. The first match was played in Belfast. I was not in the team. On the way back, a few colleagues said it was a very tough game, 1–0, the Northern Irish are very strong. They were given a bonus, good thing the matches weren't broadcast! When we played in the second leg, I yelled at them to shame them after about 20 minutes. Those guys had no idea about football. They were amateurs, these bearded guys, you had the feeling that they were something between guitarists and waiters. Pure amateurs!" – declaration years later after a 11–0 win over Crusaders in which he scored a goal from the 1973–74 European Cup.[46][47]
"Șumudică is a «vero» (n.r. true) Romanian. He combines the fantastic humor and the Romanian spirit very well. He has this spirit to treat phases with humor. His lines are very good. I don't know where he gets this humor from, he has it not only because he was born in the center of Bucharest, in Piața Romană, as he says. He has good quality sidewalk humor. He is not called Ninel for nothing. He is also called Marius, a Latin name. That was the name of Caesar's uncle, the general who fought the German savages head-to-head."
"Worker Nicoliță, very hardworking, but the football field is not a construction site."
"Philosophy is a transcendental propaedeutic for the death-haunted soul of the Romanian."
"Pițurcă is like a Griffon dog that you have to knock off the forehead with a compass and a rake to see if it has a brain."
"I started writing the fourth book. I generally write at night and sleep during the day. On the other hand, where should I go out? I apply the famous quote of Țuțea, "you have nothing to look for outside, there are too many imbeciles"."
"Gnohéré looked like a simple Foreign Legion unit cook somewhere in Africa in an imaginary war."
"This Rambé... I think his name is Ramble. The railway ramble where the train slows down so it doesn't derail."
"I have a reserved opinion, in my opinion Peteleu is something between a cave and a cavern as a left defender. The poor guy has big problems! He has speed in the lane, but when he enters, he does it like those who were at old men's at our wall of death. He has some speed, but otherwise quality..."
"Matulevičius is good rather as a high voltage pole in the opposing box, maybe only to electrocute the opposing defenders."
"Sânmărtean as he plays in many phases when he won't finish the dribbles he starts at 30, 35 meters from the opposing goal. I have the feeling that he is a born tired player!"
"Oroș, according to me, is a hole in Astra's indisputable defense! The way Oroș looks means that he eats well at Giurgiu, because he looks more like a rugby pillar. Don't you see how he looks?"
"It was a mistake with the display of frankincense. Not in the locker room, not in the cells where the football parishioners stay. It had to start from the Palace, everything starts from there. Well, who brought players like Popescu or Oaidă? They are players without imagination, without technical ability. These players, after they pass the half court, you have to tell them to stop. But who will do this? The monks and prayer witnesses who sit next to Becali are not good at football."
"A detective needs to find out what Dinamo is playing and how the players were placed on the field by Bonetti. When you make football players train by climbing the stairs, something that hasn't been done since Teașcă's time, what expectations do you have?! That's the basic training lately, ten stairs up, ten down! It's like those black guys who carried sacks of dirt on their backs in search of Tutankhamun's tomb."
↑ ""Zambind in iarba", de Cornel Dinu"["Smiling in the grass", by Cornel Dinu] (in Romanian). Sport.hotnews.ro. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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