# Emilian Dolha

Emilian Ioan Dolha (born 3 November 1979) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently goalkeeping coach at Liga II club Concordia Chiajna.
Dolha started his career with Gloria Bistrița, before representing other teams in his native Romania, such as Olimpia Satu Mare, Rapid București, Dinamo București and Universitatea Cluj. He spent two years in Poland, playing for Wisła Kraków and Lech Poznań, and had a one-year spell in Russia with Fakel Voronezh. He was known as a goalkeeper good at saving penalties.

## Club career

Emilian Dolha was born on 3 November 1979 in Turda, Romania, starting to play junior level football at Gloria Bistrița where on 14 September 1997 he made his Divizia A debut in a 2–0 away loss in front of Argeș Pitești. After spending the 1999–2000 season at Divizia B side, Olimpia Satu Mare, Dolha returned to first league football, signing with Rapid București. His first trophy won with The Railwaymen was the 2001–02 Cupa României, however coach Mircea Rednic preferred to use Bogdan Stelea in the 2–1 victory against Dinamo București from the final. In the following season, Rednic selected him as the first-choice goalkeeper, the team starting the season by winning the 2002 Supercupa României with a 2–1 victory against Dinamo, finishing the season champions with Dolha appearing in 22 matches. He then kept a clean sheet, as he was used all the minutes by Rednic in another victory over Dinamo in the 2003 Supercupa României. In his last season spent at the club, the team managed to win another Cupa României but coach Răzvan Lucescu used Dănuț Coman in the 1–0 over Național București from the final.
In June 2006, Dolha went to play for Polish side, Wisła Kraków where fellow Romanian, Dan Petrescu was coaching, also being teammate with two other compatriots Hristu Chiacu and Norbert Varga. However he made his Ekstraklasa debut under coach Dragan Okuka on 22 September in which he kept a clean sheet in the 2–0 win over Widzew Łódź. After keeping another clean sheet in a 2–0 win over Iraklis in extra time from the first round of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, he played afterwards four games in the group stage. For the way he played for Wisla in his single season, Dolha was selected as the goalkeeper of the season. In the following one he played for Lech Poznań.
In June 2008 he signed with Dinamo București where he had to compete with goalkeepers like Bogdan Lobonț. The highlights of his three seasons spell spent with The Red Dogs were six appearances in the 2009–10 Europa League group stage, including a clean sheet in the 1–0 win from the first leg with Sturm Graz, then he saved a penalty in the 2–1 victory from the second leg, also after his performance in a 1–0 away win in a derby with Steaua București, one of the club's officials gave him an Audemars Piguet watch which costs 20.000€ as a gift.
He went to play for Fakel Voronezh in the 2011–12 Russian second league. In a match against FC Rostov from the quarter-finals of the Russian Cup he saved three penalties at the penalty shoot-out, a performance which however was not enough for his side to qualify further. At the end of his single season spent in Russia, Fakel relegated to the third division, so he returned to his first club, Gloria Bistrița where he was wanted by coach Nicolae Manea but even do he played regularly in the 2012–13 season, he could not avoid the team's relegation to the second division. However he stayed to play in first league football as he signed with Universitatea Cluj where in his second season coach Adrian Falub gave him the last of his total 154 appearances in the competition on 23 May 2015 in a 2–1 away loss in front of Oțelul Galați after which "U" mathematically relegated to the second division. Throughout his career, Dolha also played in a total of 22 matches in European competitions.

## International career

Dolha played two friendly games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 8 December 2000 under coach László Bölöni in a 3–2 victory against Algeria. His second game was a 3–0 victory against Georgia.

## Honours

Rapid București
* Divizia A: 2002–03
* Cupa României: 2001–02, 2005–06
* Supercupa României: 2002, 2003
Dinamo București
* Cupa României runner-up: 2010–11
Universitatea Cluj
* Cupa României runner-up: 2014–15