Dumitru Marcu

Marcu, nicknamed "Motoreta" (The Motorbike), was born on 9 April 1950 in Drăghiceni, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1965 at CFR Caracal. In 1970, he joined Steaua București, making his Divizia A debut on 29 November when coach Ștefan Kovács sent him in the 72nd minute to replace Nicolae Pantea in a 1–1 draw against Progresul București. At the end of the season, the team won the Cupa României, but Kovács did not use him in the final. Subsequently, he played in a 2–1 win over Barcelona which helped his side advance past the Catalans during the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign. In the middle of the 1971–72 season, Marcu left Steaua and joined Universitatea Craiova. There, he was close to winning the title in the 1972–73 season, but they finished in second place on equal points with Dinamo București, losing controversially on goal difference. This outcome led poet Adrian Păunescu to nickname Craiova as "Campioana unei mari iubiri" (The Champion of a great love). In the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup season, "U" Craiova got past Fiorentina, being eliminated in the following one by Standard Liège, with Marcu playing all four games in the campaign. In the same season, Marcu was part of Craiova's team that won the league title, which was the club's first trophy, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 24 matches in which he scored seven goals. Subsequently, Marcu also won the 1976–77 Cupa României, when he played as a starter in the final,…

From 1971 to 1975, Marcu made several appearances for Romania's under-23 and Olympic squads. Marcu played 16 matches and scored three goals for Romania. He made his debut on 23 April 1972 when coach Gheorghe Ola sent him on at halftime to replace Radu Jercan in a 2–2 friendly draw against Peru in which he scored the final goal. Subsequently, he made four appearances during the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, netting a brace in Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 win against Finland. He also played in a 2–0 home win over Bulgaria in the 1977–80 Balkan Cup. Marcu's last appearance for the national team took place on 4 April 1979 in a 2–2 draw against Spain during the Euro 1980 qualifiers.

Marcu began his coaching career at Jiul Petroșani in the second half of the 1990–91 Divizia A season, but the team was relegated at the end of the season. However, Marcu continued to coach Jiul until 1993. Subsequently, in 1994 he returned to first league football at Extensiv Craiova. His next spell was at Jiul for a few rounds during the 1997–98 Divizia A season. From 2000 to 2001, Marcu had his only experience coaching abroad in Saudi Arabia at Al-Wehda. In 2002, Marcu was caretaker coach at Universitatea Craiova. Afterwards, he worked for Jiul Petroșani from 2003 to 2004 and for CS Vulcan in 2009, with both spells in the Romanian lower leagues. Between 2012 and 2016, he was the sporting director of Gloria Buzău. Marcu has a total of 48 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, consisting of 13 victories, 8 draws and 27 losses.

In 2003, Marcu received the Honorary Citizen of Craiova title. Marcu died at Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest, on 13 August 2026, at the age of 76.