Costică Ștefănescu

Steaua București

Ștefănescu, nicknamed Ministrul Apărării ("The Minister of Defence"), was born on 26 March 1951 in Bucharest, Romania. He began playing junior-level football in 1965 at Steaua București. He made his Divizia A debut on 1 June 1969 under coach Ștefan Kovács in a 2–0 derby win over Rapid București. In that game he played as a midfielder, afterwards playing as a forward for a few years until he established himself as a defender. His first trophy won was the 1969–70 Cupa României, as Kovács kept him on as a starter for 60 minutes before Vasile Negrea replaced him in the 2–1 victory against rivals Dinamo București in the final. The team also won the following edition of the Cupa României, but this time Kovács did not play him in the final. During his period spent with The Military Men, he played eight games with one goal scored in European Cup Winners' Cup over the course of three seasons. Notably, in the 1971–72 campaign he played three games, as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and Barcelona, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule by Bayern Munich.

Universitatea Craiova

In 1973, Ștefănescu went to play for Universitatea Craiova. His first performance there was when he played three games in the 1973–74 UEFA Cup campaign, as "U" Craiova got past Fiorentina in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by Standard Liège. In the same season, he was part of Craiova's team that won the…

Ștefănescu played 64 matches, captaining 44 of them, for Romania. He made his debut at age 26 on 14 August 1977 when coach Ștefan Kovács sent him in the 70th minute to replace Ștefan Sameș in a 3–1 victory against Czechoslovakia in the Coupe Mohamed V final. Subsequently, he played four matches in the successful 1977–80 Balkan Cup, including both legs of the 4–3 aggregate win against Yugoslavia in the final. He also played five games during the Euro 1980 qualifiers. Then he captained the team throughout all the eight games in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers which included a 2–1 home win and a 0–0 away draw against England. He played seven games in the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers, including two 1–0 wins over World Cup holders Italy, and Sweden, with Ștefănescu providing the assist for Rodion Cămătaru's goal in the victory against the Swedes. Coach Mircea Lucescu used him for the entirety of all three games in the final tournament which were a draw against Spain and losses to West Germany and Portugal, as his side failed to progress from their group. Subsequently, he played seven games during the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, including his last appearance for the national team which took place on 13 November 1985 in a 3–1 away win over Turkey. For representing his country at the Euro 1984 final tournament, Ștefănescu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Ștefănescu started his coaching career in 1986, being a player-coach at FCM Brașov. After leading Brașov for three years, he went to work for a while in 1990 at Steaua București. There, he guided the team in the 1990–91 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, as they eliminated Glentoran in the first round, but got defeated by Montpellier in the second one. Subsequently, he led Romania's under-21 national team between 1990 and 1991. Then he went to coach abroad at Al-Wakrah where he won the 1991 Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup. Afterwards he came back to Romania, coaching at Selena Bacău and Politehnica Timișoara before working from 1994 to 1998 as Anghel Iordănescu's assistant at Romania's national team. In 1999, Ștefănescu went to work for Astra Ploiești, one year later moving to CSM Reșița in Divizia B. Subsequently, he went to coach abroad, first at Hapoel Tzafririm Holon in Israel and then at Qatari side Al Shoala. Between 2003 and 2005, he coached Al-Jaish Damascus where in 2004 he won the Syrian Cup and the AFC Cup, with the latter being won on the away goals rule after a 3–3 on aggregate against rivals Al-Wahda Damascus. He came back to Romania in 2006 to coach FC U Craiova for a short while. Since 2007, Ștefănescu went back to coaching abroad, first in Syria at Al-Wahda Damascus. Afterwards he went in Saudi Arabia at Najran SC, and in 2009 he worked for Al Tadamon in Kuwait. Between 2010 and 2012, Ștefănescu had a second spell at Al-Jaish Damascus. His last coaching spell was…

Ștefănescu described his style of play as:"The fact that I played both as a striker and a midfielder before becoming a libero helped me acquire good technique. In addition, I had intuition, composure and accurate passing. I saw the field well and made quite good long passes. Flaws? A slower reaction speed, but I compensated with placement." Journalist Ioan Chirilă said about him:"When you look at Ștefănescu, you always get the impression that he forgot his diplomatic suitcase on a conference table, in Geneva or Stockholm. He speaks little, especially during the years when he was captain of Craiova and the national team. He weighs his words carefully. In his presence, jokes always become more modest. Even Cârțu obeys this rule. Elegance, a sense of anticipation, technique and the science of the long pass, all come together in his game. In football dictionaries, the word "libero" should have the explanation "Costică Ștefănescu"."