Gheorghe Constantin

Gheorghe Constantin

Gheorghe Constantin in the 1960s
Personal information
Full name	Gheorghe Constantin
Date of birth	(1932-12-14)14 December 1932
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Date of death	9 March 2010(2010-03-09) (aged 77)
Place of death	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1946–1949	Unirea Tricolor București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1949–1950	Venus București
1950–1951	Avântul Reghin
1951–1954	CFR Iaşi
1954–1955	CFR Sighetu Marmației
1955–1969	Steaua București	264	(148)
1969–1970	Kayserispor	26	(5)
1970–1971	Farul Constanța	3	(0)
Total		293	(153)
International career
1956–1967	Romania	39	(12)
Managerial career
1971–1972	Steaua București (assistant)
1972–1973	Steaua București
1973–1975	Steaua București (assistant)
1975–1976	SC Bacău
1976	Fenerbahçe (assistant)
1976–1977	Romania (assistant)
1977–1978	FCM Galaţi
1978–1981	Steaua București
1981–1982	Politehnica Iaşi
1982–1984	Steaua Mecanică Fină
1984–1986	Gloria Buzău
1986–1987	Olt Scornicești
1987–1988	Universitatea Craiova
1989–1990	Farul Constanța
1990	Romania
1990–1991	Zeytinburnuspor
1991–1992	Rapid București
1993–1994	Farul Constanța (assistant)
1994	Farul Constanța
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gheorghe Constantin (14 December 1932 – 9 March 2010) was a Romanian former footballer and coach. Known as The Professor, he was a symbol of Steaua București.

Club career

Constantin made his debut for Unirea Tricolor's youth team, and shortly after their abolition he signed with Venus UCB. He played only a year for his new club, before moving to Avântul Reghin and then CFR Iaşi before he signed a contract with Steaua București. He played for Steaua 15-years, scoring 149 goals in Divizia A. Romanian Communist authorities allow him to play abroad for Kayserispor in Turkey.

He made his debut in the Romania national team against Yugoslavia; that was a game made notable by the fact that the whole Romanian team was made up of players from Steaua București. Constantin was also a member of the Romanian soccer team at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Managerial career

After his return from Turkey, he was appointed by Steaua București as an assistant manager. Constantin was the manager of the team in 1973, but after only a short period he moved to Bacău. After Bacău, he managed FCM Galaţi, but returned to Steaua in 1978. He won the Romanian Cup in his second spell there, then left the club to manage Politehnica Iaşi. In 1983, he was appointed the manager of Steaua București's second team, Steaua Mecanică Fină București. He managed a number of clubs in his native country and also coached in Turkey.

Career statistics

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	14 September 1958	Zentral Stadium, Leipzig, East Germany	East Germany	1–1	3–2	Friendly
2.	2 November 1958	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Turkey	2–0	3–0	1960 European Nations' Cup Qual.
3.	8 November 1959	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Bulgaria	1–0	1–0	1960 European Nations' Cup Qual.
4.	8 October 1961	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Turkey	3–0	4–0	Friendly
5.	8 October 1961	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Turkey	4–0	4–0	Friendly
6.	25 November 1962	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Spain	3–1	3–1	1964 European Nations' Cup Qual.
7.	23 December 1962	Stade D'honneur, Casablanca, Morocco	Morocco	0–1	3–1	Friendly
8.	23 June 1963	Idrætsparken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	0–1	2–3	1964 Summer Olympics Qual.
9.	27 April 1964	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Czechoslovakia	1–0	4–1	Friendly
10.	3 May 1964	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Austria	1–0	2–1	Friendly
11.	3 May 1964	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Austria	2–0	2–1	Friendly
12.	22 October 1964	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Yugoslavia	3–0	3–0	1964 Summer Olympics (5th place match)

Honours

Player

Club

Steaua Bucharest

• Romanian League (4): 1956, 1960, 1961, 1968
• Romanian Cup (4): 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967

Individual

• Romanian League Top Scorer (3): 1960, 1961, 1962

• Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year (runner-up): 1967

Manager

Steaua Bucharest

• Romanian Cup: 1978–79
• Romanian League Runners-up: 1979–80

Politehnica Iaşi

• Romanian Second League: 1981–82

Further reading

• Marius Popescu, I se spune Profesorul..., Editura Militară, București, 1969.

External links

• Gheorghe Constantin at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Gheorghe Constantin at WorldFootball.net
• Gheorghe Constantin at SteauaFC at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 November 2018) (in Romanian)
• Gheorghe Constantin at arsiv.mackolik.com (in Turkish)
• Gheorghe Constantin's coaching career in Liga I at labtof.ro (in Romanian)
• Gheorghe Constantin – FIFA competition record (archived)