Valentin Stănescu

Stănescu, also known as "Tinel" or "Zimbrul" (The bison), was born on 20 November 1922 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football at age 11 in 1933 at local club Olimpia. In 1942, he joined Malaxa Tohan for a short while, before moving to Sportul Studențesc București for three years, during which he played a Cupa României final that was lost with 4–0 to CFR Turnu Severin. He made his Divizia A debut playing for Carmen București under coach Petre Steinbach on 16 March 1947 in a 3–2 away victory against Dermagarand Târgu Mureș. At the end of the season, the Carmen team was dissolved by the Communist regime that just took over the country. Stănescu and teammate Bazil Marian attempted to flee to Italy by boarding a ship in the Port of Constanța. However, the authorities apprehended them, offering a choice between imprisonment or playing for a working-class team like Locomotiva București, and they both chose the latter option. He played for Locomotiva until he retired, making his last Divizia A appearance on 27 May 1951 in a 2–1 home loss to Steaua București, totaling 51 matches in the competition. However, he spent his last season in Divizia B as the club was relegated, but Stănescu stayed with the team, helping it gain promotion back to the first division after one year.

Stănescu played five matches for Romania, making his debut on 22 June 1947 when coach Colea Vâlcov introduced him in the 71st minute to replace Stanislau Konrad in a 3–1 loss to Yugoslavia in the 1947 Balkan Cup. He made two more appearances in that competition, a 3–2 victory against Bulgaria and a 3–0 loss to Hungary. The latter was his last game played for the national team.

Stănescu started his managerial career in 1953 at Locomotiva MCF București in the Romanian regional championship. In 1955, he went to coach at Dunărea Giurgiu, after three years moving to Unirea Focșani in Divizia B, helping it avoid relegation. In 1959, he started to coach Metalul Târgoviște, managing to gain promotion from Divizia C to Divizia B and later to Divizia A. There, in his first season as coach in the first division, the team was relegated as it finished in 13th place. In 1963, Stănescu went to coach Giulești based club Rapid București, where he created a team formed on the clubs juniors with some transfers including his former player from Dunărea Giurgiu Constantin Năsturescu and goalkeeper Răducanu Necula.

He was the first coach that implemented the 4–4–2 formation in Romanian football, thus creating a team that won the club's first title in the 1966–67 season. Stănescu also won two Balkans Cups, becoming the first manager to achieve this performance. In the following season he led Rapid in the 1967–68 European Cup, making his first European performance by eliminating Trakia Plovdiv with 3–2 on aggregate, being eliminated in the following round by Juventus Torino with 1–0 on aggregate. In the same season he reached the 1968 Cupa României final which was lost with 3–1 in extra time to Dinamo București that was coached by his former Carmen București teammate, Bazil Marian. Stănescu also coached Romania's Olympic team for a short while, achieving a 2–1 away…

The Giulești-Valentin Stănescu Stadium was a football stadium in the Giulești neighborhood of Bucharest. The venue, named after him, was the home stadium of Rapid București for almost 80 years.