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The Most Famous

COACHES from Romania

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This page contains a list of the greatest Romanian Coaches. The pantheon dataset contains 328 Coaches, 7 of which were born in Romania. This makes Romania the birth place of the 18th most number of Coaches behind Belgium and Switzerland.

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Romanian Coaches of all time. This list of famous Romanian Coaches is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Dan Petrescu

1. Dan Petrescu (1967 - )

With an HPI of 53.70, Dan Petrescu is the most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Daniel Vasile Petrescu (Romanian pronunciation: [daniˈel vaˈsile peˈtresku]; born 22 December 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player who is manager of K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. As a player, Petrescu was deployed as a full-back or a winger and began his career at Steaua București, with which he played in the 1989 European Cup final. Abroad, he represented Serie A clubs Foggia and Genoa, before moving to the Premier League where he played for Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea, Bradford City, and Southampton, respectively. With Chelsea, Petrescu won the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He earned 95 caps for the Romania national team, being selected in two World Cup squads, in 1994 and 1998, and in two European Championships, in 1996 and 2000. Petrescu became player-assistant manager to Walter Zenga at Național București towards the end of his playing career, and has since had an extensive career as a head coach in Poland, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, China, Turkey, and South Korea, in addition to his native country. His first job was at Sportul Studențesc, which he led to Liga I promotion. Petrescu has won domestic honours with Unirea Urziceni, Kuban Krasnodar, ASA Târgu Mureș, Jiangsu Suning, and CFR Cluj. He is the second-most successful manager in Romania, tied with Emerich Jenei, winning the league on six occasions (five times with CFR Cluj and once with Urziceni), and was also named Romania Coach of the Year a record five times, tied with Mircea Lucescu.

Photo of Gabi Balint

2. Gabi Balint (1963 - )

With an HPI of 45.81, Gabi Balint is the 2nd most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Gavril Pele "Gabi" Balint (born 3 January 1963) is a Romanian football manager and former player, who was part of the hugely successful Steaua team of the 1980s.

Photo of Viorel Moldovan

3. Viorel Moldovan (1972 - )

With an HPI of 45.53, Viorel Moldovan is the 3rd most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Viorel Dinu Moldovan (born 8 July 1972) is a Romanian football manager and former player. A striker, he was an important player for the Romania national team in the 1990s.

Photo of Cosmin Olăroiu

4. Cosmin Olăroiu (1969 - )

With an HPI of 45.41, Cosmin Olăroiu is the 4th most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Cosmin Aurelian Olăroiu (born 10 June 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former player, who is in charge of UAE Pro League club Sharjah.As a manager, he guided Steaua București to the Divizia A title and Romanian Supercup both in 2006, and led his side to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in the same year.He is considered one of the greatest managers in the Arabian Peninsula, having led the most decorated clubs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates – Al Hilal, Al Sadd, Al Ain and Al Ahli – to new trophies. In 2020, he guided Jiangsu Suning to their first-ever title in China.

Photo of Mircea Rednic

5. Mircea Rednic (1962 - )

With an HPI of 43.20, Mircea Rednic is the 5th most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian football coach and former player who played as a defender, currently in charge of Liga I side UTA Arad.

Photo of Ionel Ganea

6. Ionel Ganea (1973 - )

With an HPI of 35.91, Ionel Ganea is the 6th most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ioan Viorel Ganea (born 10 August 1973) is a Romanian football manager and striker for Liga IV Sibiu club A.S. Fotbal Club Dumbrăveni.

Photo of Dorin Goian

7. Dorin Goian (1980 - )

With an HPI of 32.42, Dorin Goian is the 7th most famous Romanian Coach.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Dorin Nicolae Goian (born 12 December 1980) is a Romanian professional football manager and former football player.

Pantheon has 7 people classified as coaches born between 1962 and 1980. Of these 7, 7 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living coaches include Dan Petrescu, Gabi Balint, and Viorel Moldovan.

Living Coaches

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