Cosmin Bărcăuan

Bărcăuan was born on 5 August 1978 in Oradea, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Bihor. He started his senior career in 1994 at Bihor in Divizia B. He spent several seasons at the club, including in Divizia C, with a brief spell in 1998 at first-league side, Gloria Bistrița where he did not play. Subsequently, he joined FC Universitatea Craiova where on 10 April 1999 he made his Divizia A debut under coach Marian Bondrea in a 2–1 home win over his former club, Gloria Bistrița. He was used by coach Emil Săndoi the full 90 minutes in the 2000 Cupa României final, as "U" Craiova lost 2–0 to Dinamo București. In 2002 when Craiova owner Gheorghe Nețoiu left the team to go to Dinamo, he took players Bărcăuan, Dan Alexa, Flavius Stoican, Ovidiu Burcă, Ciprian Danciu, Ștefan Preda, Cornel Frăsineanu and Ștefan Grigorie with him. In his first season with The Red Dogs, he scored a personal record of 12 goals, and also won the Cupa României, as coach Ioan Andone used him the entire match in the 1–0 win over Național București in the final. In the following season, Andone started using him as a defender, despite having played as a striker until then. In this new position he was used by Andone in 28 league matches and still managed to score five goals, including one in a 2–1 victory in a derby against Steaua București as the team won the title. In the same season, Dinamo won another Cupa României, Bărcăuan playing the full 90 minutes in the 2–0 win over Oțelul…

Bărcăuan made eight appearances and scored two goals for Romania, making his debut on 15 November 2000 when coach László Bölöni sent him to replace Adrian Mutu in the 52nd minute of a 2–1 friendly victory against FR Yugoslavia in which he scored the decisive goal. He scored his second goal for the national team in a friendly that ended in a 3–2 away victory against Algeria. Bărcăuan's last four games for Romania were in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

Bărcăuan started his coaching career in 2010, at Greek fourth league side, Astera Sílata. Afterwards he worked at Digenis Lakkoma with whom he managed two promotions, first from the fifth league to the fourth and then from the fourth to the third. In 2016, he worked with juniors at the Olympiacos Academy. In 2018 he coached for a short while Voluntari's satellite team in the Romanian third league, returning in 2020 to coach the youth of Olympiacos Academy for two more years.

International

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