Victor Pițurcă

Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Universitatea Craiova. He started his senior career in 1974, when he was loaned for one year to Dinamo Slatina in Divizia B. When he returned to "U" Craiova, coach Constantin Cernăianu gave him his Divizia A debut on 19 November 1975 in a 4–0 home win over Argeș Pitești. However, during his two seasons spent at Craiova, he played rarely, so he went again in Divizia B, this time at Pandurii Târgu Jiu. There, in his first season he worked with coach Constantin Oțet and netted over half of the total 37 goals scored by the team, but the club was relegated to Divizia C. In the 1978–79 season, Pițurcă scored 46 goals of Pandurii's total of 98, helping them gain promotion back to Divizia B after one year. In 1979, he went back to Divizia A football, as he joined Olt Scornicești, making regular appearances during his four-years spell. In July 1983, Steaua București, coached by Cernăianu, wanted him, but his Scornicești coach, Florin Halagian, tried to retain him until Emerich Jenei's insistence secured the transfer. In his first season, he did not win any trophies, but afterwards he helped the team conquer five league titles in a row. First was The Double in the 1984–85 season when Pițurcă was the second top-scorer of the league, having only one goal behind Sportul Studențesc's Gheorghe Hagi, as he scored 19 goals in the 32 matches coaches Halagian and Jenei used him. He also…

Pițurcă played 13 games and scored six goals for Romania, making his debut on 27 March 1985 under coach Mircea Lucescu in a 0–0 friendly draw against Poland. After playing two matches in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, he scored his first two goals for the national team in a 3–1 friendly win over Norway. He netted another brace in a 4–2 friendly victory against Israel. Subsequently, he made five appearances during the Euro 1988 qualifiers where he scored two goals in two victories over Albania and Spain. He made his last appearance for Romania on 18 November 1987 in a 0–0 draw against Austria.

Pițurcă's first coaching experience was working as an assistant of Emerich Jenei at Steaua București. Shortly afterwards, he became the team's head coach in March 1992, winning on his debut with 3–0 against rivals Rapid București. He finished the season in second place and won the Cupa României after the penalty shoot-out victory in the final against Politehnica Timișoara. His following coaching spell began in 1994 at Universitatea Craiova where he finished second in the 1994–95 season. In 1996, Pițurcă was named coach of Romania's under-21 side, leading the team to its first qualification to a European Championship in 1998, which Romania subsequently hosted. They qualified after winning the group 8 of the qualifiers with eight victories out of eight matches against Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Lithuania and Macedonia. In the final tournament which was composed of eight teams, they were eliminated by Netherlands with 2–0 in the quarter-finals. They also lost the games for the 5th-8th places and for the 7th place to Germany and Russia respectively. However, from the 20-players squad that took part at that tournament, only five never played for Romania's senior team throughout their career. In 1998, following the success with the under-21 side, Pițurcă was appointed as Romania's seniors manager, making his debut on 17 August in a 0–0 friendly draw against Norway. He qualified the team to the Euro 2000, as he won the qualification group with seven victories and three draws…

At Steaua București and Universitatea Craiova he coached his son, Alexandru, who was a striker. Pițurcă is the cousin of Eugen Neagoe who was also a footballer and a coach. Another one of his cousins, Florin Pițurcă, was a footballer who played for Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Divizia C, dying in December 1978 at age 20, shortly after playing a game. Pițurcă was nicknamed Satana ("Satan") by the press, something he called "remarkable".