Liviu Ciobotariu

Liviu Ciobotariu (born 26 March 1971) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player.

Full name Liviu Ciobotariu^[1]

Date of birth 26 March 1971 (age 55)

Place of birth Ghimpați, Romania^[1]

Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

Quick facts Personal information, Full name ...

Liviu Ciobotariu
Personal information
Ciobotariu in 2019
Full name	Liviu Ciobotariu^[1]
Date of birth	(1971-03-26) 26 March 1971 (age 55)
Place of birth	Ghimpați, Romania^[1]
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position	Centre-back
Youth career
–1989	Progresul București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1989–1998	Național București	173	(19)
1990–1991	→ Pandurii Târgu Jiu (loan)	24	(3)
1998–2000	Dinamo București	47	(4)
2000–2001	Standard Liége	47	(0)
2002–2004	RAEC Mons	46	(1)
2004	Royal Antwerp	14	(0)
2004–2005	Dinamo București	8	(0)
Total		359	(27)
International career
1997–2001	Romania	32	(3)
Managerial career
2006	Național București (caretaker)
2006–2007	Dunărea Galați
2007–2008	Otopeni
2008	Internațional Curtea de Argeș
2008–2009	Otopeni
2009–2010	Pandurii Târgu Jiu
2010	CF Brăila
2010–2011	Dinamo II București
2011–2012	Dinamo București
2012–2013	CSMS Iași
2013–2014	Vaslui
2015	ASA Târgu Mureș
2015–2016	Al-Faisaly
2018	Al-Tai
2018–2019	Botoșani
2019–2020	Lebanon
2021	Hermannstadt
2021–2023	Voluntari
2023	Sepsi OSK
2024–2025	Botoșani
2025	Petrolul Ploiești
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

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Club career

Ciobotariu debuted in Divizia A with Progresul București in 1992.

International career

Ciobotariu made his debut for the Romania national team in 1997 against Macedonia, and represented his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. He played his last international match in 2001, and got 32 caps and 3 goals in total.

Managerial career

Ciobotariu retired in 2005 and began to coach in 2006. Between July 2011 and April 2012, he was the manager of Dinamo București. In January 2015, he took control of ASA Târgu Mureș. Ciobotariu brought the team to the first position in Liga I, but failed to win the championship after two losses in the last two games of the 2014–15 season. At the end of the season, Ciobotariu ended his contract with ASA on mutual agreement.

On 4 June 2015, he was appointed as head coach of Saudi Professional League side Al-Faisaly, before moving to Al-Ta'ee in 2017.^[2] After one season, Ciobotariu was appointed manager of Botoșani.

On 3 June 2019, Ciobotariu was named manager of the Lebanon national team.^[3] After coaching for 10 games, on 17 June 2020 the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) decided not to extend Ciobotariu's contract, which had expired.^[4]

On 15 January 2021, Ciobotariu was appointed head coach of Liga I club Hermannstadt, signing a two-year contract.^[5] He was dismissed on 21 March after winning only one game out of 12.^[6] He became head coach of fellow Liga I side Voluntari on 7 May 2021.^[7]

Personal life

His son Denis is also a footballer.^[8]^[9]

Career statistics

International

More information National team, Year ...

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1997	2	0
	1998	9	0
	1999	8	1
	2000	9	1
	2001	4	1
Total		32	3

Close

Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ciobotariu goal.

More information Goal, Date ...

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	4 September 1999	Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia	Slovakia	3–1	5–1	UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
2	3 June 2000	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Greece	1–0	2–1	Friendly
3	26 February 2001	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Ukraine	1–0	1–0	Friendly