Cosmin Tilincă
Romanian footballer (born 1979)
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Cosmin Augustin Tilincă (born 1 August 1979) is a Romanian former footballer.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cosmin Augustin Tilincă | ||
| Date of birth | 1 August 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Turda, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Sănătatea Cluj (assistant) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–2002 | Arieșul Turda | ||
| 2002–2007 | CFR Cluj | 97 | (23) |
| 2007 | Farul Constanța | 11 | (1) |
| 2007–2008 | Gloria Bistrița | 30 | (6) |
| 2008–2011 | Pandurii Târgu Jiu | 36 | (5) |
| 2011–2015 | Arieșul Turda | 18 | (3) |
| 2015–2016 | Germania Okriftel | 26 | (14) |
| 2016–2017 | TSV Trebur | 40 | (11) |
| 2017 | SKV Mörfelden | 0 | (0) |
| 2018–2023 | Sănătatea Cluj | 70 | (19) |
| Total | 328 | (82) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2012–2015 | Arieșul Turda (assistant) | ||
| 2016–2017 | TSV Trebur (assistant) | ||
| 2024– | Sănătatea Cluj (assistant) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 10:11, 1 November 2024 (UTC) | |||
Club career
Tilincă was born on 1 August 1979 in Turda, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Arieșul.[1][2] In 1997 he started to play for Arieșul's senior squad in Divizia C.[1][3] In 2002 he went to play at Divizia B level, signing with CFR Cluj.[1][3] In the 2003–04 season, he scored three goals to help the team earn promotion to the first division, making a partnership in the offence with Adrian Anca.[1][3] In the following season, Tilincă made his Divizia A debut on 21 August 2004 when coach Aurel Șunda sent him in the 65th minute to replace Sead Brunčević in CFR's 4–2 win over Apulum Alba Iulia.[1][4][5] He scored his first goal on 11 June 2005 in a 2–1 home victory against FC Brașov.[1][4] Under coach Dorinel Munteanu, he played ten games in the 2005 Intertoto Cup campaign as CFR got past Vėtra, Athletic Bilbao, Saint-Étienne and Žalgiris, scoring seven goals against all these opponents, with the team reaching the final where they were defeated 4–2 on aggregate by Lens.[1][2][6] With those seven goals scored, Tilincă was the top-scorer of the competition, and earned the nickname Tili-goal.[2][3][7][8]
In February 2007 he signed with Farul Constanța which paid €40,000 to CFR, being wanted there by coach Basarab Panduru.[1][2][9] Until the end of the season, Tilincă made 11 league appearances for Farul, scoring once in a 1–1 draw against Steaua București.[1][10] He then went to Gloria Bistrița for the 2007–08 season.[1][2] Under the coach Ioan Sabău, he played five games in the 2007 Intertoto Cup campaign as Gloria eliminated Grbalj and Maccabi Haifa, scoring once against the latter.[1][11] They reached the final where he netted once and provided the assist to Dorel Zaharia's goal in a 2–1 home victory against Atlético Madrid, but the second leg was lost with 1–0, thus losing the final on the away goals rule.[3][7][11][12][13] In 2008, Tilincă joined Pandurii Târgu Jiu where on 6 November 2009 he netted his last goal in the Romanian league in a 1–1 draw against his former side, Gloria Bistrița.[1][14] He made his last first league appearance on 22 May 2010 in Pandurii's 1–0 away win over Unirea Alba Iulia, totaling 135 matches with 23 goals in the competition.[1][3][15]
Afterwards, Tilincă returned to his hometown at Arieșul, playing for them in the Romanian lower leagues until 2015.[1] He then went to play in the German lower leagues for Germania Okriftel, TSV Trebur and SKV Mörfelden.[2][3] In 2018 he came back to Romania, signing with Sănătatea Cluj where he stayed until his retirement in 2023.[7]
International career
In 2005, Tilincă was called up by coach Victor Pițurcă at Romania's national team, to play in friendlies against Ivory Coast and Nigeria.[7][16] However, due to an injury suffered in a training match against Sportul Studențesc București, he did not get to play in those games.[7][16]