Florin Constantinovici
Romanian former footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florin Constantinovici (born 12 February 1968) is a former Romanian footballer who played as a defender.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 12 February 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| CSȘ 2 București | |||
| Mecanică Fină București | |||
| –1988 | Aversa București | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1993 | Rapid București | 133 | (30) |
| 1993–1994 | Dinamo București | 46 | (5) |
| 1995–1997 | Rapid București | 74 | (10) |
| 1997–1999 | Heerenveen | 29 | (2) |
| 2000 | FC Brașov | 13 | (1) |
| 2000–2001 | Rapid București | 18 | (1) |
| 2001–2002 | Tzafririm Holon | 16 | (1) |
| 2002–2003 | Politehnica Timișoara | 23 | (0) |
| Total | 352 | (50) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–1997 | Romania B | 12 | (0) |
| 1991–1992 | Romania | 3 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2004–2019 | Romania U21 (assistant) | ||
| 2019–2026 | Romania (assistant) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
Constantinovici was born on 12 February 1968 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club CSȘ 2 București.[1][2] He completed his youth development with spells at Mecanică Fină București and Aversa București.[1] He started his senior career at Rapid București, making his Divizia A debut under coach Ion Motroc on 28 May 1989 in a 2–0 away loss to Corvinul Hunedoara.[1][2][3] Subsequently, he made five appearances in the 1989 Intertoto Cup, scoring a goal in a 5–0 victory against Spartak Varna.[4] The team was relegated at the end of the 1988–89 season, but Constantinovici stayed with the club, helping it gain promotion back to the first league after one year.[1]
In 1993, Constantinovici joined Dinamo București.[1][2] There, he played in four UEFA Cup matches over the course of two seasons, but on both occasions the team was eliminated in the first round by Cagliari and Trabzonspor respectively.[1][5] In the middle of the 1994–95 season, he made a comeback to Rapid.[1][2] Constantinovici helped The Railwaymen reach the 1995 Cupa României final, where he played the entire match under coach Sorin Cârțu in the loss to Petrolul Ploiești.[2][6][7] Afterwards, he played three games in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup in which they got past Lokomotiv Sofia in the qualifying round, but were eliminated by Karlsruhe in the following round.[8] He then played three games during the 1997 Intertoto Cup, scoring once in a 2–0 home win over Žilina.[1][9]
In 1997, Constantinovici went to play for Heerenveen where he became teammates with compatriots Dumitru Mitriță and Mugur Gușatu, and a young Ruud van Nistelrooy.[1][2][10] He made his Eredivisie debut on 20 August 1997 under coach Foppe de Haan in a 3–1 home win over NAC Breda.[11][12] Constantinovici scored his first goal in the competition on 4 April 1998 in a 2–1 away victory against MVV Maastricht.[11] On 10 May, he scored once again in a 3–2 home win over RKC Waalwijk.[11]
In the middle of the 1999–2000 season, Constantinovici returned to Romania, signing with FC Brașov.[1][2] Subsequently, he went for a third spell to Rapid.[1][2] He played two matches in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, helping his side eliminate Mika, but they were defeated in the following round 1–0 on aggregate by Liverpool.[13] For the 2001–02 season, Constantinovici went to play for Tzafririm Holon in the Israeli second league.[1][2] Afterwards, he joined Politehnica Timișoara, making his last Divizia A appearance on 24 May 2003 in a 2–1 away loss to Dinamo București, totaling 275 matches with 38 goals in the competition.[1][2]
International career
From 1991 to 1997, Constantinovici was consistently featured for Romania's B side.[14] He helped them win the 1991 Nehru Cup, where he played five matches, including the 3–1 win over rivals Hungary in the final.[14][15]
Constantinovici played three friendly games for Romania, making his debut on 21 December 1991 under coach Mircea Rădulescu in a 3–1 away loss to Egypt.[16][17] Three days later, he played in another match against Egypt, which ended in a 1–1 draw.[16] His last appearance took place on 12 February 1992 in a 1–0 loss to Greece.[16]
Coaching career
From 2004 to 2019, Constantinovici served as an assistant coach for Romania's under-21 national team.[18][19] The highlight of this tenure was reaching the semifinals of the 2019 European Championship alongside head coach Mirel Rădoi.[20] In 2019, Constantinovici joined Rădoi to coach Romania's senior team.[19][21] He worked there until 2026, and the highest achievement was reaching the Euro 2024 round of 16 under head coach Edward Iordănescu.[18][22]