Iordache was born on 5 November 1946 in Iași, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Politehnica under coach Mihai Bârsan.[3][4][5][6] He made his Divizia A debut for Politehnica on 24 August 1969 in a 2–0 away loss to Farul Constanța.[3][5][6] Iordache was transferred by Steaua București in 1972 where he learned a lot about goalkeeping from the team's goalkeeper coach Ion Voinescu.[3][4][5][6][7] He won two Divizia A titles in the 1975–76 and 1977–78 seasons, under coach Emerich Jenei who used him in 13 matches in the campaign for the first title and in 14 for the second.[3][5][6][8][9] Iordache also won two Cupa României, being used by Jenei the entire 90 minutes in the 1976 final in which he kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory against CSU Galați.[3][5][6][8][10] In the 1979 final, he was sent on the field by coach Gheorghe Constantin to replace Rică Răducanu in the 84th minute of the 3–0 victory against Sportul Studențesc București.[11] For the way he played in 1980 and 1981, Iordache was placed fourth on both occasions in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.[12] During his 12 seasons with The Military Men, Iordache made a total of 231 Divizia A appearances and played nine games in European competitions.[3][5][6] Throughout this period, he competed for a spot on the team with other international goalkeepers such as Narcis Coman, Carol Haidu, Dumitru Moraru and Rică Răducanu.[5][8] He also had a controversial moment when he got upset and left the field during a game with Argeș Pitești after conceding a goal because his defenders did not intervene, coach Jenei was forced to send Moraru to substitute him.[4] Afterwards he went to play for FCM Brașov where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 20 November 1985 in a 2–0 away loss to Politehnica Timișoara, having a total of 271 appearances in the competition.[3][4][5][6]
International career
Iordache played 23 matches in which he conceded 27 goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 12 May 1976 under coach Ștefan Kovács in a 1–0 loss to Bulgaria in the 1973–76 Balkan Cup final.[1][6][13] He then went on to play three games in the successful 1977–80 Balkan Cup including appearing for the entirety of both legs in the 4–3 aggregate victory in the final against Yugoslavia.[1][14] Iordache also played four games in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers including all the minutes in the 2–1 home victory and the 0–0 draw at Wembley Stadium against England.[1][4][5][6][8] After the latter game, he was nicknamed "The hero of the Wembley" and received a grade 10 in the Sportul newspaper for the saves he made defending his goal.[4][5][6][15][16] He claims that after the game in England he had an offer from Nottingham Forest which recently won two consecutive European Cup titles but could not accept it as transfers outside the country were not allowed by Romania's communist regime.[6][8] Iordache was chosen by Mircea Lucescu to be part of Romania's squad for the Euro 1984 final tournament.[4][6][8][17] However, he did not play, as Silviu Lung and Dumitru Moraru were the first-choice goalkeepers before him.[4][6][8][17] His last appearance for the national team took place on 31 July 1984 in a friendly that ended with a 1–0 victory against China.[1][6]
For representing his country at the Euro 1984 final tournament, Iordache was decorated by President of RomaniaTraian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.[18]
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