Rodion Cămătaru

Progresul Strehaia

Cămătaru was born on 22 June 1958 in Strehaia, Romania and began playing football in 1970 at local club Progresul Strehaia. He was moved to the senior team during the 1972–73 season in the Mehedinți County Championship, and on 3 March 1973, he was designated as the club's required junior player, registering county-level first-team involvement by age 14. He also played during the 1973–74 season in Divizia C. He left the club in early November 1974.

Universitatea Craiova

Two years later he went to play for Universitatea Craiova, making his Divizia A debut on 10 November 1974, aged 17 under coach Constantin Cernăianu in a 1–1 draw against CFR Cluj. He spent twelve seasons with Universitatea, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation that won two consecutive league titles in 1980 and 1981. He was the team's top-scorer in both, as in the first he scored 17 goals in the 26 appearances gave to him by coach Valentin Stănescu and in the second he scored 23 in the 33 matches under coach Ion Oblemenco. He also won the Cupa României four times, playing in all the finals, opening the score in the 3–1 win against Olimpia Satu Mare in the one in 1978 and he scored twice in the 2–1 victory over Politehnica Timișoara in the 1983 final. Cămătaru played 37 games and scored six goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions. In the first round of the 1979–80 UEFA Cup he scored twice to help the team get past Wiener Sport-Club. In the following round…

Cămătaru played 73 matches and scored 21 goals for Romania, making his debut on 13 December 1978 under coach Ștefan Kovács in a 2–1 friendly loss to Greece. He played two games in the Euro 1980 qualifiers, then scored one goal in the 4–1 victory against Yugoslavia in the second leg of the 1977–80 Balkan Cup final. Cămătaru played six games and scored two goals during the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers, including one against goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli after a long pass from Costică Ștefănescu and a 30 meters run in a 1–0 win over Sweden at the Råsunda Stadium. Afterwards he was used by coach Mircea Lucescu in all three matches in the final tournament which were a draw against Spain and losses to West Germany and Portugal in Romania's group stage exit. He played six games and scored three goals in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, including a spectacular one at the Wembley Stadium against goalkeeper Peter Shilton in a 1–1 draw against England. In the following years, Cămătaru played four games in the Euro 1988 qualifiers and made five appearances during the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers, scoring twice in a 3–1 away victory over Bulgaria. He was also part of the squad that participated in the final tournament, where coach Emeric Jenei did not use him in any games. Cămătaru's last appearance for the national team was in the Euro 1992 qualifiers, scoring Romania's goal in a 2–1 loss to Scotland. For representing his country at the 1990 World Cup, Cămătaru was decorated by…

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cămătaru goal.

Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titled Rodion Cămătaru - tunarul din Bănie (Rodion Cămătaru - the gunner from Bănie), which was released in 1996. In 2003, Cămătaru received the Honorary Citizen of Craiova title.