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Rednic, nicknamed "Puriul", was born on 9 April 1962 in Hunedoara and until he was 14 years old he played table tennis, handball, volleyball and chess before starting to play football at Corvinul Hunedoara's youth center under coach Remus Vlad.[2][3][4] Coach Mircea Lucescu gave him his debut for Corvinul's senior squad in the 1979–80 Divizia B season.[2][3] Subsequently, as the team got promoted, Lucescu gave him his Divizia A debut on 2 August 1980 in a 4–1 victory against ASA Târgu Mureș.[2][3] In the following seasons Rednic helped the club finish third in the 1981–82 Divizia A and appeared in four games in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup as they got past Grazer AK in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by FK Sarajevo.[2][3][5]
Rednic took part in a big scandal in the derby against Steaua in March 1989, which was lost with 2–1 after Gheorghe Hagi opened the score, Andone equalized for Dinamo and Gabi Balint scored the winning goal for Steaua in the last minute of the game.[3][11] Also referee Ion Crăciunescu eliminated Rodion Cămătaru and Claudiu Vaișcovici from Dinamo.[3][11] Feeling disadvantaged by the referee, right after the game, Rednic and Andone showed some obscene gestures in front of the official tribune where Valentin Ceaușescu, the son of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and unofficial president of Steaua was staying.[3][11] Rednic got away with it after a friend of his from Steaua, László Bölöni, talked to Valentin Ceaușescu.[3][11] Andone was initially suspended for a year by the Romanian Football Federation, but after his friend from Steaua, Marius Lăcătuș, talked to Valentin Ceaușescu and convinced him to forgive Andone, his suspension was reduced to three months.[3][11]
His following performance was playing six games in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, reaching the quarter-finals where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after 1–1 on aggregate by Sampdoria.[2][12] In the following season he won another Double with the club, Lucescu giving him 19 appearances in which he scored one goal in the league, and also played the full 90 minutes in the 6–4 win over Steaua in the Cupa României final.[2][6][13] In the same season he made another European performance as he played eight games in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup, scoring once against Panathinaikos, the team reaching the semi-finals where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht.[2][3][14]
In 1991, coach Mircea Lucescu told him to go to Standard Liège because it was the team he would be coaching in the near future.[15] However, Lucescu never had the opportunity to train there, but Rednic spent five seasons with the club.[2][15] He made his Belgian First Division debut on 16 August 1991 under coach Arie Haan in a 2–1 home loss to Club Brugge.[17] He won the 1992–93 Belgian Cup with The Reds, as coach Haan used him the entire match in the 2–0 win over Charleroi in the final.[18] During these years, Rednic played regularly for Standard and was colleagues for short periods with compatriots Bogdan Stelea and Gheorghe Butoiu.[2][15][19]
In 1996, after his period at Standard Liège ended, he moved to Sint-Truidense.[2] There, on 2 February 1997 he made his last Belgian First Division appearance in a 3–1 away loss to Germinal Beerschot, having a total of 150 matches with three goals in the competition.[2][20]
Rapid București
In 1997, Rednic returned to Romania at Rapid București, at the advice of the team's coach, Mircea Lucescu.[2][21][22] He spent the last three years of his career there, playing the entire match in the 1–0 win over Universitatea Craiova in the 1998 Cupa României final.[23] Subsequently, he played in 32 matches in which he scored one goal in the 1998–99 season as the team won its first title after 32 years.[2][6][21] On 10 May 2000, Rednic made his last Divizia A appearance in Rapid's 3–1 home win over "U" Craiova, having a total of 391 appearances with 29 goals in the competition, also totaling 47 matches with two goals in European competitions.[2]
For representing his country at the 1990 World Cup, Rednic was decorated by President of RomaniaTraian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.[29]
Career statistics
International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[30]
His second spell at Rapid was one in which he won the first trophies of his coaching career, consisting of the 2002–03 Divizia A title, a Cupa României and two Supercupa României.[21][34] Rapid dismissed him in the middle of the 2003–04 season while the club was still in the top positions, fighting to win the championship.[21] Afterwards, Rednic had his first coaching experience outside Romania when he signed with Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr where he spent a few months, bringing Adrian Neaga with him.[21][35] He then returned in Romania as Universitatea Craiova's manager in the 2004–05 Divizia A season.[21] After a 3–1 victory against Rapid, at the press conference following the game, he sang the chorus of a song made by the Romanian band Ca$$a Locco:"I'm so glad that you took the sting, I'm so glad that you lost!".[21][36] That was a message to the leaders of Rapid who fired him.[21][36] However, he resigned after a 1–1 draw against FCM Bacău in the 8th round of the championship.[21] In 2005 he went to coach FC Vaslui in Divizia B, which he helped gain promotion to the first league, but refused to extend his contract at the end of the season.[21] After the first six rounds of the 2005–06 Divizia A season, he came back to the team, helping it avoid relegation.[21]
In 2006, Rednic had his first spell at Dinamo București, managing to win the 2006–07 Liga I.[21][34][37][38] In the first 13 rounds of that season, the team had 13 consecutive victories and won all four derbies against Steaua and Rapid, including the 4–2 victory against Steaua at the Ghencea stadium which was the first away victory for The Red Dogs in the derby after 18 years.[21][37] He also managed to get past the group stage of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, reaching the round of 32 where the team was eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Benfica.[21][37] He resigned from Dinamo after a bad start of the 2007–08 season as the club did not manage to qualify in the Champions League group stage after a 4–2 aggregate loss to Lazio Roma.[21][37][39] In October 2007, Rednic returned for a third spell at Rapid which lasted until March 2008 when he resigned.[40] In April 2008, Rednic started his second spell at Dinamo and in the 2008–09 season, the team was in first position for most of the championship, but after three losses in the last three games of the season, the team finished in third place and he left the club.[37][34][41]
In August 2009, Rednic went to coach abroad, first at Russian second league side Alania Vladikavkaz with whom he finished the championship in third place, thus failing to gain promotion to the Russian Premier League.[34][42] From July 2010 until December 2011, he managed Khazar Lankaran in Azerbaijan where he recruited numerous Romanians, bringing nine Romanian players to the club.[34][43] He managed to win the Azerbaijan Cup and finished the 2010–11 Azerbaijan Premier League season in second position.[37][44] He was dismissed after a 1–0 loss to Inter Baku in the 15th round of the 2011–12 regular season.[45] In March 2012, Rednic returned to Romania and signed a contract with Astra Ploiești until the end of the season.[46] Afterwards, he decided not to continue with Astra, moving instead to their biggest rivalsPetrolul Ploiești.[47] In October 2012, Rednic left Petrolul to coach Standard Liège, bringing Romanian players Adrian Cristea and George Țucudean with him.[48] He made his debut as The Reds coach in an away league game which ended with a 2–0 victory against Genk that was the only team unbeaten in the previous 12 rounds of the season.[49] During that game, he wore a tie gifted to him by the club in 1996, when he was a player who had spent five years at Standard.[49] Despite an emphatic 7–1 aggregate win over Gent in the Europa League qualification play-off, Rednic's contract was not extended at the end of the season.[50] He explicitly attributed his sacking to a conflict between him and club's chairman Roland Duchâtelet who wanted a "marionette" instead of a coach.[51]
On 10 June 2013, Rednic returned to Romania as the new head coach of CFR Cluj.[52] However, he ended his contract by mutual agreement just two months later, having won only one of the first four championship games and had a conflict with team captain Ricardo Cadú.[53] On 1 October 2013, it was announced that Rednic had moved to Gent to replace Víctor Fernández.[54] He was dismissed in April 2014, a few rounds before the season's end, with club officials citing a poor relationship between the coach and players.[55] Afterwards he had a short second spell at Petrolul Ploiești and a third spell at Dinamo with whom he reached the Cupa României final which was lost to CFR Cluj.[34][37][56] He then went to coach a third team in Belgium, Excel Mouscron where he worked with Romanian players Cristian Manea and Dorin Rotariu.[34][57] He took the club from the last place of the 2016–17 Belgian First Division A and helped it avoid relegation.[58] However, he was dismissed the following season after managing to obtain 29 points in 26 rounds, which was considered insufficient by the club's officials.[58] From 2018 until 2021, Rednic had coaching experiences at Saudi Arabian club Al-Faisaly, Politehnica Iași, Viitorul and two spells at Dinamo, all of them being short and unsuccessful with a low victory percentage.[34][37][59]
In April 2023, with four rounds before the end of the 2022–23 season, UTA Arad appointed Rednic as their head coach with the objective of saving the team from relegation.[60] He succeeded in avoiding relegation and kept the club in the first league for the following two seasons.[61] In June 2025, he returned to Standard Liège for a second spell as head coach.[62] However, after earning two victories, one draw and two losses in the first five rounds of the 2025–26 season, he was dismissed.[63]
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