Dorinel Munteanu

Early career

Munteanu, nicknamed "Neamțul" (The German), was born on 25 June 1968 in Grădinari, Caraș-Severin County, Romania. He started playing senior level football at age 13, in the Romanian lower leagues at the local club from his native Grădinari. About one year later he played in a friendly against Minerul Oravița which then decided to transfer him. At Oravița, Munteanu made his Divizia C debut under the guidance of coach Eugen Pojoni. Four years later he went to play at Divizia B level for Metalul Bocșa. In 1987 he was close to a move to Politehnica Timișoara but eventually stayed in Divizia B, going to CSM Reșița.

Olt Scornicești and Inter Sibiu

In 1988, Munteanu joined Olt Scornicești where on 21 August he made his Divizia A debut under coach Silviu Stănescu in a 0–0 away draw against Victoria București. Afterwards, he signed with Inter Sibiu with which he won the 1990–91 Balkans Cup under coach Viorel Hizo. He also scored seven goals during the 1990–91 domestic league to help his side earn a fourth place.

Dinamo București

Munteanu's childhood favorite team Dinamo București bought him and Gheorghe Mihali from Inter Sibiu in 1991. In Munteanu's first season, he managed to score 12 goals in the 33 league games coach Florin Halagian used him as the capital side won the national championship undefeated. In the same season, Munteanu helped Dinamo eliminate Luis Figo's Sporting Lisbon with a 2–1 aggregate victory in the first round of the UEFA…

Early years

Munteanu played three games for Romania's under-21 side between 1988 and 1990. He made his debut for Romania's main team on 23 May 1991 at the age of 22, under coach Mircea Rădulescu who used him the full 90 minutes of a friendly which ended with a 1–0 away loss to Norway, played at the Ullevaal stadium in Oslo. He netted his first goal on 21 December 1991 in a 3–1 friendly loss to Egypt.

1994 World Cup

Munteanu played 10 matches during the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers. In the final tournament, coach Anghel Iordănescu used him as a starter in all five games. Romania's "Golden Generation" advanced past the group stage and then eliminated Argentina with a 3–2 victory in the round of 16. They were subsequently defeated after a penalty shoot-out by Sweden in the quarter-finals.

Euro 1996

During the Euro 1996 qualifiers, he played eight games and scored two goals in victories against Israel and Slovakia. In the final tournament, Iordănescu used him in all three games which were losses to France, Bulgaria and Spain, as Romania failed to progress from their group. In the game against the Bulgarians, Munteanu's powerful 25-meter shot defeated goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov, hitting the crossbar and falling approximately 20 centimeters beyond the goal line, but referee Peter Mikkelsen wrongfully disallowed the goal.

1998 World Cup

During the 1998 World Cup qualifiers he made eight appearances, scoring a hat-trick in a 8–1…

Player-coach period

In 2005, Munteanu went as a player-coach at CFR Cluj. He helped them get past Athletic Bilbao, Saint-Étienne and Žalgiris in the 2005 Intertoto Cup, reaching the final where they were defeated 4–2 on aggregate by Lens. The team also finished fifth in the 2005–06 Divizia A season. During the first half of the 2006–07 season, despite a good start with CFR Cluj, Munteanu announced his resignation, due to club management's interference with his decisions and lack of support. Munteanu had a pending offer from Argeș Pitești and he decided to accept it, despite the team being bottom of the first league after 10 games. Towards the end of the season, due to impossibility of avoiding the relegation of Argeș, he was sacked, only to be confirmed shortly thereafter as the new manager of fellow first league team FC Vaslui. He was pressed by the owner to leave Vaslui in March 2008, following a 1–0 loss to Steaua București. Munteanu became head coach of Universitatea Cluj in September 2008, but only after seven games he quit to join Steaua. He led Steaua in five league games in which the team was undefeated. However, he lost all three games in the Champions League group stage to Lyon, Bayern Munich and Fiorentina, being dismissed by the club's president, Gigi Becali. Shortly afterwards he returned to "U" Cluj in the second league, helping it avoid relegation to the third.

Oțelul Galați

On 1 July 2009, Oțelul Galați club official, Marius Stan confirmed…

In 1994, Munteanu was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest. Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titled Dorinel Munteanu - metronomul de la mijlocul terenului (Dorinel Munteanu - the metronome in the midfield), which was released in 2001.