Viorel Mateianu

Viorel Mateianu (1 June 1938 – 25 November 1997) was a Romanian football player and coach.

Viorel Mateianu
Personal information
Date of birth (1938-06-01)1 June 1938
Place of birth Lipănești, Romania
Date of death 25 November 1997(1997-11-25) (aged 59)
Place of death Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1952 Flacăra Boldești
1955–1956 Progresul CPCS București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1958 Progresul București 20 (13)
1958–1961 Știința Cluj 72 (21)
1961–1962 Steaua București 15 (3)
1963–1970 Progresul București 140 (271)
1970–1973 TUS Wannsee Berlin
1973 Alemannia Aachen
Total 247 (64)
National team
Romania U-23 4 (0)
Romania B 2 (0)
1960–1966 Romania 6 (2)
Teams managed
1976–1977 Progresul București
1979–1981 Baia Mare
1981 Progresul București
1982–1983 Petrolul Ploiești
1985 Jiul Petroșani
1986 Danubiana București
1986 Bihor Oradea
1987 Drobeta-Turnu Severin
1988 Bihor Oradea
1988–1989 UTA Arad
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Mateianu was born in Lipănești, Prahova and died in Bucharest.

He is renowned as a coach for his interesting football experiment, Morișca ("The Hand-Mill"), in which the strikers and midfielders swap places during the game. Mateianu was experimental throughout his coaching career, in the process revolutionizing Romanian football. To him a football team was before anything else a family.

Playing career

Mateianu was one of the finest playmakers of Romanian football during the 1960s, and was also noted for fair play during matches.

After playing for Flacăra Boldești and then Progresul București as a youth, Mateianu made his debut at the senior level in 1957, aged 19, when he was enrolled in Progresul's first squad. After just one year he signed to Știința Cluj, returning to Progresul in 1963.

In 1970 Mateianu was allowed by the communist authorities to play in Western Europe. He was signed by the German team TUS Wannsee Berlin in the same year, and later transferred to Alemannia Aachen. He retired from professional football in 1973.

Mateianu won six caps for Romania, scoring twice.

1 The 1965–1966 goals and 1969–1970 matches made for Progresul București are unavailable.

Coaching career

Just a few months after returning from Germany, Mateianu was given the role of head coach at his former club, Progresul București, now playing in Liga II.

His first triumph as a coach came in 1976, when Progresul were promoted back to Liga I, but having failed to keep the team in the top league he was sacked in 1977.

After leaving Progresul, Mateianu returned to Liga II, taking over at FC Baia Mare. After just one season, his team was promoted to the top league and then enjoyed its golden era, finishing fourth in Liga I in 1978-79 and 1979–80. However, Mateianu was sacked during the 1980–81 season after a series of poor results.

After another short spell with Progresul in 1981, he was hired by Petrolul Ploiești for the 1982–83 season and then by Progresul Brăila in the following season.

In 1985, he returned to Liga I after being requested by Jiul Petroșani, but was soon sacked for poor results. Returning to Bucharest, he took over Danubiana București for a season, before being signed by FC Bihor in 1986. In 1987, he coached Drobeta-Turnu Severin for one season, before spending his last season as a coach, 1988–89, at FC Bihor.

Trivia
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