Viorel Moldovan

Gloria Bistrița and Dinamo București

Moldovan was born on 8 July 1972 in Bistrița, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Gloria. He started his senior career by playing for Gloria during the 1988–89 Divizia B season. In the following season he helped the team earn promotion to Divizia A. Subsequently, he made his debut in the competition on 21 October 1990 under coach Remus Vlad in a 1–0 home loss to Petrolul Ploiești. In 1993 he went to play for Dinamo București. There, he made his debut in European competitions, scoring a double in the 4–3 aggregate loss to Cagliari in the first round of the 1993–94 UEFA Cup.

Neuchâtel Xamax and Grasshoppers

In 1995, Moldovan went to play for Neuchâtel Xamax, making his Nationalliga A debut on 29 July under coach Gilbert Gress in a 1–0 home win over Basel. In the next round he netted his first goals in the competition, managing a brace in a 3–0 victory against Lugano. Until the end of his first season, he netted 19 goals which earned him the top-scorer of the season title alongside Lugano's Petar Aleksandrov, also being named the league's Foreigner of the Year. In the following season he played for Grasshoppers, scoring a goal on his debut in a 1–1 draw against Sion. Until the end of the season, he netted a personal record of 27 goals, including two hat-tricks in victories against Young Boys and Lausanne-Sport, being again the top-scorer of the season and the Foreigner of the Year. In the same…

Early years and 1994 World Cup

Moldovan played 70 matches and scored 25 goals for Romania, making his debut on 22 September 1993 at age 21 under coach Anghel Iordănescu in a 1–0 friendly win over Israel. He was selected by Iordănescu to be part of the 1994 World Cup squad where the team reached the quarter-finals, but he did not play in any games from the campaign. He scored his first goals for the national team on 24 April 1996, managing a hat-trick in a friendly that ended with a 5–0 victory against Georgia.

Euro 1996

Moldovan played in one game in the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers, a 2–0 away win over Slovakia. He was sent as a substitute by Iordănescu in the 1–0 losses to France and Bulgaria during the final tournament, and the team also lost the game against Spain, being unable to progress from their group.

1998 World Cup

During the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, he made eight appearances, scoring two goals in both victories against Liechtenstein, two goals in both wins over Lithuania and a brace in a 4–2 victory against Macedonia. Moldovan was used as a starter by Iordănescu in all four games in the final tournament. In the group stage, Romania earned victories in the first two rounds against Colombia and England, Moldovan scoring once against the latter, thus securing mathematical qualification before the last group match against Tunisia. To celebrate, the team dyed their hair blonde and showed up on the pitch with their new look, Moldovan…

After he ended his career, Moldovan started working as a sporting director for Rapid București during the year 2007. Afterwards he went to work for Unirea Urziceni in the same position until 2008. He started his coaching career when he replaced Viorel Hizo at FC Vaslui in November 2008. However, on 26 May 2009 he resigned from Vaslui after a 4–1 loss to Gloria Buzău which lowered the team's chances of finishing on a place that would grant them participation in a European competition. On 28 July 2009, the Italian coach Nicolò Napoli quit FC Brașov and was replaced by Moldovan, who signed a two-year deal. After a good start, the team eventually finished the season in 9th place and he left the club. In September 2010, Moldovan was named the coach of Sportul Studențesc but left the club in late October after not managing to earn a single victory in the league during this time. From September 2013 until July 2014 he coached Rapid in Liga II, managing to earn promotion to the first league at the end of the season. In 2014 he was named by the Romanian Football Federation as coach of Romania's under-21 national team. Later in that year he became an assistant of head coach Anghel Iordănescu at Romania's senior squad, helping it qualify to the Euro 2016 final tournament. After the tournament in which The Tricolours did not get past the group stage, he was appointed as the head coach of Ligue 2 team, Auxerre. After nine games in which he earned only one victory, Moldovan was dismissed…

His father, Vasile, was also a footballer who played 10 years for Gloria Bistrița. In 1994, Moldovan received the Honorary Citizen of Bucharest title. In 2002, he was named Honorary Citizen of Bistrița. On 29 March 2006, he was decorated by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" (Order of "Sporting Merit"), Class II, for his contribution to reaching the 2005–06 UEFA Cup quarter-finals with Rapid București.