Dorinel Munteanu

Dorinel Ionel Munteanu is a Romanian football player who plays as a Defensive midfielder and Left midfielder, and is at the same time, a football coach. Munteanu was born on June 25, 1968 in Grădinari, Caraş-Severin County in Romania.

Munteanu began his professional football career by playing for the team Metalul Bocşa. In 1986, he debuted by playing in Divizia B. He transferred teams every year, first to CSM Reşiţa in 1987 and then to FC Olt Scorniceşti and FC Inter Sibiu. In 1991, Sibiu sold him to Dinamo Bucharest and in the same year, he won his first cap for Romania.

In 1993, this native of Romania started to play in foreign countries. That year, Cercle Brugge, a Belgian football team bought him from Dinamo Bucharest. He also moved to Germany in 1995 to play in the German leagues for 8 years, first signing up with 1. FC Köln and then with VfL Wolfsburg.

In 2003, Munteanu, who was then age 35, went home to Romania to play for Steaua Bucureşti as a free agent. He had a fight with the Mihai Stoica, the club’s Chief Executive, and was forced to leave in 2005. From then on, he continued to transfer teams first to CFR Cluj Napoca until recently in 2009, to Universitatea Cluj.

He is the prolific player in Romania with a record of 134 caps from 1991 to 2007 and the top 21 most capped player in the world. Overall, he has netted 16 times for the Romanian national team and played for his homeland at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 1996 and 2000 European Football Championship.

In 2005, when he left Steaua Bucureşti, he accepted the job of player-manager at CFR Cluj Napoca. He continued to coach from then on and at the present, is the coach of the Oţelul Galaţi.