# Gheorghe Mulțescu

Gheorghe Mulțescu (Romanian pronunciation:; 13 November 1951 – 15 September 2024) was a Romanian professional football manager and player.

## Club career

Gheorghe Mulțescu was born on 13 November 1951 in Botoroaga, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1963 at Steaua București. When it was the time for him to start his senior career, Steaua's coach Ștefan Kovács was considering to promote him to the first team but as Kovács left to coach Ajax Amsterdam in 1971, his replacement Gheorghe Constantin chose not to bring Mulțescu to the senior squad.
Eventually he went to play for Jiul Petroșani where on 22 August 1971 he made his Divizia A debut in a 0–0 with Crișul Oradea. His first performance with The Miners was reaching the 1972 Cupa României final where coach Eugen Iordache used him all the minutes in the eventual 2–0 loss in front of Rapid București. In the 1973–74 season he scored a personal record of 15 goals in the league, also he scored two goals in the 4–2 victory against Politehnica Timișoara from the 1974 Cupa României final in which coach Traian Ivănescu used him the whole match, helping Jiul win the first trophy in the club's history. He then participated with the club in the 1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup, playing in both legs of the 3–2 aggregate loss against Dundee United from the first round. Starting from 1976, for three seasons he made a successful couple in Jiul's offence with Romanian football star, Florea Dumitrache.
Mulțescu was transferred at Dinamo București in 1979 where for several years he would form a successful offensive trio with Ionel Augustin and Costel Orac, together being called "AMO" by the fans, a nickname inspired by their initials from the first letters of their family name. He won three consecutive Divizia A titles from 1982 until 1984, at the first he contributed under the guidance of coach Valentin Stănescu with nine goals scored in 26 matches, in the second he played 31 games and scored six goals and in the third he made 23 appearances and scored eight goals, at both working with coach Nicolae Dumitru. Mulțescu also won two Cupa României with Dinamo, being used all the minutes by Stănescu in the 3–2 victory over FC Baia Mare from the 1982 final but did not play in the win with Steaua from the 1984 final. Over the years he would score two goals in the derby with Steaua in a draw and a victory from the league. He played 20 games in which he scored nine goals in European competitions for The Red Dogs, helping the team eliminate Inter Milan in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup edition and he appeared in seven matches in the 1983–84 European Cup season, scoring one goal against Kuusysi Lahti and two in both legs of the 5–3 victory on aggregate against title holders, Hamburger SV, the first one being a spectacular shot from about 40 meters, reaching the semi-finals where the campaign ended in front of Liverpool.
In 1985, Mulțescu returned to Jiul Petroșani, this time as a player-coach, managing to promote the team from Divizia B to Divizia A. He spent his last season as a player in Divizia A at CSM Suceava, making his last appearance on 17 December 1987 in a 0–0 with Petrolul Ploiești, earning a total of 407 matches played with 111 goals scored in the competition. In the final years of his career he worked as a player-coach at Autobuzul București, UTA Arad, Rapid București and Poiana Câmpina in the Romanian lower leagues.
Mulțescu won the Universiade gold medal with Romania's students football team in the 1974 edition that was held in France, playing alongside László Bölöni, Dan Păltinișanu, Romulus Chihaia and Paul Cazan.

## International career

Mulțescu played 12 matches and scored two goals for Romania (16/3 including Romania's Olympic team games), making his debut on 25 September 1974 under coach Valentin Stănescu in a friendly which ended 0–0 with Bulgaria.
He played another two games against Bulgaria, a 1–0 away loss and a 3–2 home victory in the 1973–76 Balkan Cup lost final in which he scored a goal. He played two games and scored one goal in a 2–0 victory against Cyprus at the Euro 1980 qualifiers. Mulțescu's last game for the national team was a 1–0 away victory against Cyprus at the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers.

## Managerial career

Mulțescu managed several clubs, most of them being from Romania, where he was nicknamed Smurdul (English: The SMURD) after the Romanian emergency rescue service, because of his capacity of taking charge of teams who are going through a difficult time in mid-season and taking them on a points-winning path, especially those who were fighting to avoid relegation. In 1993 he led Romania's B squad at the Nehru Cup, reaching the final where they lost with 2–0 in front of North Korea. Mulțescu coached 13 teams in Divizia A, at some of them having several terms, at Dinamo he was coach on six periods, having a total of 313 Divizia A matches (112 victories, 74 draws, 127 losses). He also coached outside of Romania, in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, his most successful period being in his first term at Samsunspor from 1993 until 1997, a period in which he finished one championship in the fifth place and won his only trophy from his managerial career, the 1993–94 Balkans Cup.

## Personal life and death

His son, Cătălin, was a goalkeeper, playing at various Liga I and Liga II clubs through his career. After he retired from the professional football career, he became a goalkeeping coach.
Mulțescu died on 15 September 2024 in the Floreasca Hospital from Bucharest, at the age of 72. Over 200 people participated at his funeral, being buried with military honors in the "Reînvierea" Cemetery from the Colentina neighborhood of Bucharest.

## Career statistics

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mulțescu goal.
List of international goals scored by Gheorghe Mulțescu :
| # | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 28 November 1976 | Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania | 5 | Bulgaria | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1973–76 Balkan Cup |
| 2 | 18 November 1979 | Stadionul Dinamo, Bucharest, Romania | 7 | Cyprus | 1–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1980 qualifiers |

## Honours
### Player

Jiul Petroșani
* Divizia B: 1985–86
* Cupa României: 1973–74
Dinamo București
* Divizia A: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
* Cupa României: 1981–82, 1983–84

### Manager

Jiul Petroșani
* Divizia B: 1985–86
Romania B
* Nehru Cup runner-up: 1993
Samsunspor
* Balkans Cup: 1993–94