Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950) is a Romanian former footballer and former manager, who played as a forward.
Iordănescu, nicknamed Puiu, spent most of his playing career at Steaua București, winning two Romanian League titles and several Cupa României trophies. He also had a two-season spell at Greek side OFI Crete. During his time as an assistant coach at Steaua, he came out of retirement and played in the victory against Barcelona in the 1986 European Cup final. He also represented Romania in 54 matches at international level, scoring 21 goals.
As a coach, Iordănescu won four Romanian League championships, two Cupa României trophies and the 1986 European Super Cup with Steaua, while also reaching the 1987–88 European Cup semifinals and the final in the 1988–89 edition. He led Romania's national team in the 1994 World Cup, Euro 1996, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2016 final tournaments. The team reached the quarter-finals in the 1994 World Cup. He also had a spell from 1998 to 1999 with the Greece national team. Furthermore, Iordănescu found success in the Arab world, notably winning the AFC Champions League in 2000 and 2005 with Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad respectively.
Club career
Iordănescu was born on 4 May 1950 in Bucharest, Romania, growing up in the Giulești neighborhood. As a child, he was a fan of Steaua București, a team for which he began playing junior-level football in 1960 at the age of 10. The team won the 1968–69 Cupa României at the end of his first season, but he did not play in the final. He helped the club win the 1975–76 and 1977–78 championship titles under coach Emerich Jenei, being the team's top-scorer on both occasions with 23 and 19 goals respectively. Iordănescu also helped them win four more Cupa României trophies, playing in all the finals, scoring the only goal of the 1–0 victory against CSU Galați in the 1976 final. During his time with The Military Men, he also played 19 games and scored one goal in European competitions. For the way he played in 1976, Iordănescu was placed third in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, and in 1980, he was runner-up behind teammate Marcel Răducanu. In the 1981–82 season, he was the top-scorer of the league with 20 goals netted. Iordănescu's last Divizia A appearance occurred on 12 June 1982 in Steaua's 2–1 home win against FC Constanța, totaling 317 games with 156 goals in the competition. Among these goals, five were scored in the derby against Dinamo București, contributing to two victories, two draws, and one loss for his side, while also netting another goal in a 4–1 win in the Cupa României.
In 1982, aged 32, Iordănescu left Romania to play for OFI Crete in Greece under head coach Les Shannon. He was recommended there by his friend, businessman Yiorgos Vardinogiannis. He made 54 Alpha Ethniki appearances and scored seven goals across two seasons in which the team finished mid-table.
International career
Iordănescu made a total of 57 appearances for Romania, serving as captain in nine of them and scoring 21 goals. He made his debut under coach Angelo Niculescu on 22 September 1971 and opened the scoring in a 4–0 away victory against Finland during the 1972 Euro qualifiers. In those qualifiers, he played in another two victories against Czechoslovakia and Wales, but also in two draws in the quarter-finals against Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament. Iordănescu played six matches in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, netting one goal in a 1–1 draw against Norway and the decisive goal in the 2–1 win over England.
Managerial career
Steaua București and Anorthosis Famagusta
In 1984, Iordănescu became a junior coach at Steaua București. After Jenei was appointed as Romania's manager in 1986, Iordănescu became Steaua's new head coach. He also led them in the 1–0 loss to River Plate in the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. Subsequently, during the 1987–88 European Cup, Steaua eliminated MTK Budapest, Omonia Nicosia and Rangers to reach the semi-finals where they were defeated 2–0 on aggregate by Benfica. In the 1988–89 European Cup campaign, they got past Sparta Prague, Spartak Moscow, IFK Göteborg and Galatasaray, reaching the final where they lost 4–0 to Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan. Domestically, Iordănescu helped the team win three consecutive Divizia A titles while remaining undefeated in the 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons.
In the summer of 1990, Iordănescu went to Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta.
Iordănescu returned to Steaua in 1992, managing to win a league title at the end of the 1992–93 season.
Romania and Greece
In the summer of 1993, Iordănescu was appointed to replace Cornel Dinu as Romania's coach. His first match was a 4–0 win over Faroe Islands in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers with all the goals being netted by Florin Răducioiu. The team also managed two victories against Belgium and Wales. In the group stage of the final tournament, Romania defeated Colombia and hosts USA, losing to Switzerland. Thus, they reached the round of 16, where they defeated Argentina with a spectacular 3–2 score in which Ilie Dumitrescu netted a brace and Gheorghe Hagi scored one goal. In the quarter-finals, Romania faced Sweden, and after the score remained 2–2 following extra time, the match reached a penalty shoot-out where Dan Petrescu and Miodrag Belodedici missed their spot kick, while all but one of the Swedes scored, resulting in the end of their campaign.
In the Euro 1996 qualifiers, Iordănescu guided them to the first place in their group, above France, Slovakia, Poland, Israel and Azerbaijan. However, in the final tournament Romania lost all three group stage games to France, Bulgaria and Spain. Subsequently, they earned victories over Colombia and England in the first two group stage matches during the final tournament, thus mathematically qualifying before the last group match against Tunisia. In order to celebrate, the players dyed their hair blonde and presented themselves like that at the game, while Iordănescu shaved his head bald.
In the summer of 1998, after the World Cup, Iordănescu took over as manager of Greece with the objective of qualifying them to Euro 2000. His first match was the team's debut in the Euro 2000 qualifiers, a 2–2 draw against Slovenia. In March 1999, Greece defeated Croatia in a friendly, but lost 2–0 to Norway in the Euro qualifiers and Iordănescu resigned. His first performance was finishing runner-up in the 17th GCC Club Championship, behind Qadsia SC. He won the first trophy with them on 16 February 2000, after defeating Al-Ahli 2–1 in the Saudi Founder's Cup. The most important trophy won by Iordănescu during this spell was the 1999–2000 Asian Club Championship on 22 April, after Al-Hilal's 3–2 victory against Júbilo Iwata in the final, courtesy of a hat-trick scored by Sérgio Ricardo. Subsequently, he led them to win the Saudi Crown Prince Cup on 12 May, by defeating Al Shabab with 3–0 in the final. He was sacked after only three months on 21 October 2000 due to poor results, with his last match being a 1–1 draw against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. Years later, he said he regretted this spell: "If I made a mistake in my sports career, it was that I agreed to go to Rapid. I think the mistake was that I went there when all my activity was related to Steaua and the national team. I don't think I should have gone there." Iordănescu has a total of 169 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, consisting of 130 victories, 30 draws and nine losses.
Afterwards, Iordănescu signed with Emirati club Al Ain.
Second spell at Romania
After Romania failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, Iordănescu was asked to replace Gheorghe Hagi, thereby becoming the national football team's coach for the second time. His main objective was to qualify the team for Euro 2004, but he failed to do so as they finished third in their qualification group. On 30 April 2004, Romania managed a 5–1 victory against Germany in a friendly. His first trophy won was the 2004–05 Arab Champions League after defeating Sfaxien in the final by a score of 4–1 on aggregate. Subsequently, they won the 2005 AFC Champions League after a 5–3 aggregate win over Al Ain in the final. Al-Ittihad participated in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship where after a strong performance by Mohamed Kallon and a goal scored by Mohammed Noor, they defeated 1–0 Egyptian side Al Ahly in the quarter-finals, a team that had a 55-match unbeaten run. However, they were defeated by São Paulo in the semi-finals, also losing to Saprissa in the match for the third place. Iordănescu was dismissed in March 2006, following a draw against Al-Ettifaq in the domestic league.
Third spell at Romania
On 16 December 2013, Iordănescu became the technical director of Romania's national team. Subsequently, in October 2014, he was appointed as the team's head coach, after Victor Pițurcă left to coach Al-Ittihad. Iordănescu earned qualification to Euro 2016 by finishing the qualifiers in second place with one point less than Northern Ireland but above Hungary, Finland, Faroe Islands and Greece. In the final tournament, Romania lost 2–1 to hosts France, drew 1–1 against Switzerland and suffered another loss, 1–0 to Albania, finishing its group in last place. Iordănescu resigned shortly afterwards. He has a total of 101 games from his three spells at the national team, consisting of 55 victories, 24 draws and 22 losses. In January 2009, Iordănescu opted to serve as an independent senator, and in October the same year he joined the National Union for the Progress of Romania. During the 2012 Romanian local elections, he ran for Mayor of Bucharest, but earned only 1.5% of the votes. His eldest son, Edward, was also a footballer, and a former head coach of the Romania national team.
In 1994, Iordănescu was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest. The Romanian Football Federation named him "the coach of the century" in 1999. Subsequently, on 12 December 2014, President Băsescu awarded him with the Order of the Star of Romania - in the rank of Knight with military insignia. The Anghel Iordănescu Stadium in Voluntari is named in his honor.
Career statistics
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|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year