Victor Piţurcă

Victor Piţurcă is a Romanian retired footballer who currently heads the Romania national team.

He was born in 1956 and played for such Romanian clubs as Dinamo Slatina, Universitatea Craiova, Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Olt Scorniceşti, Steaua Bucureşti and finished his playing career in French club Lens.

His most notable period was in Steaua Bucureşti, when the team won the 1986 European Cup and 1987 European Supercup. They were semi-finalists in the 1987/88 and finished runner-up in the 1988/89 European Cups.

During the period from 1985 to 1987 he made 13 appearances for the Romania national team and scored six goals.

Victor Piţurcă started his managerial career as an assistant coach in Steaua Bucureşti. The next club he headed was Universitatea Craiova. In 1996 he took over as a coach of the Romania Under 21 team and in 1998 he was appointed the head coach of the national team though spent here only one season.

In 2000 Piţurcă returned to Steaua Bucureşti and guided the team until 2004. After the conflict with the club’s chairman he left the team for the Romania national team.

During the qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2008 Romania was drawn in one group with such powerful opponents as the Netherlands, Italy and France. They managed to finish two games as a draw and eliminated from the tournament. Piţurcă was sacked because of poor performances in 2008 and 2009.

He had short spells in Steaua Bucureşti and Universitatea Craiova in 2010 and in 2011 Piţurcă was appointed the head coach of the Romania national team for the third time.