# Cosmin Bărcăuan

Cosmin Bărcăuan (born 5 August 1978) is a Romanian former football player and current coach.

## Club career

Bărcăuan was born on 5 August 1978, starting to play junior level football at local club, Bihor. He started his senior career in 1994 at Bihor in Divizia B, spending several seasons at the club, including in Divizia C, having a short interruption in 1998 when he went at first league side, Gloria Bistrița but did not play there. In 1999 he went at FC Universitatea Craiova where he made his Divizia A debut in a 2–1 home win over his former club, Gloria Bistrița. He was used by coach Emil Săndoi all the minutes in the 2000 Cupa României final, as "U" Craiova lost 2–0 in front of Dinamo București. In 2002 when Craiova owner Gheorghe Nețoiu left the team to go at 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, also winning the Cupa României, coach Ioan Andone using him all the minutes in the 1–0 win over Național București from the final. In the following season, Andone started using him as a defender even do until then he played as a striker. 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 with Steaua București as the team won the title. In the same season, Bărcăuan helped the club win another Cupa României, playing all the minutes in a 2–0 over Oțelul Galați from the final, also helping the team eliminate Liepājas Metalurgs and Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup, scoring once against the first.
He eventually was transferred by Shakhtar Donetsk who paid one million$ to Dinamo, being teammate with fellow Romanians Flavius Stoican, Daniel Florea, Ciprian Marica and Răzvan Raț and coached by Mircea Lucescu. He made his Vyshcha Liha on 15 July 2004 in a Klasychne derby which was won 2–0 with Dynamo Kyiv, scoring his first goal in the competition on 29 October in a 2–1 away victory against Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. That would be his only goal scored in the 19 league appearances he made, as the team won the title. Also in the same season he played five games in the 2004–05 Champions League group stage, including a 2–0 victory with Barcelona.
He played only two games in the first half of the following season as Shakhtar won another title. In 2005 he was loaned at Krylya Sovetov where he was teammate with compatriot Florin Șoavă but made only two Russian Premier League appearances, the first one taking place on 10 September when coach Gadzhi Gadzhiyev used him the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home loss in front of Torpedo Moscow. In 2006 he was loaned back to Dinamo București for half of year. His next loan spell was at Super League Greece side PAOK Thessaloniki, for the 2006–07 season, making his debut in the competition on 19 August 2006 as coach Ilie Dumitrescu used him all the minutes in a 0–0 with AEK Athens.
After one season in which he played regularly at PAOK, he remained in the league, signing with OFI Crete where on his debut which took place under coach Reiner Maurer on 2 September 2007 he scored one goal in the 3–2 victory against Apollon Kalamarias. OFI relegated in his second season spent at the club, afterwards he played three games in the 2009–10 Beta Ethniki, then left the club in order to return in Romania at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. He made his last appearance in the Romanian first league on 12 March 2010 in Ceahlăul's 4–2 home loss in front of CFR Cluj, having a total of 168 matches with 33 goals scored in the competition.

## International career

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

### International goals

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bărcăuan goal.
List of international goals scored by Cosmin Bărcăuan :
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 15 November 2000 | Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania | FR Yugoslavia | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 8 December 2000 | Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria | Algeria | 1–0 | 3–2 | Friendly |

## Managerial career

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

## Honours
### Player

Bihor Oradea
* Divizia C: 1997–98
Universitatea Craiova
* Cupa României runner-up: 1999–00
Dinamo București
* Divizia A: 2003–04
* Cupa României: 2002–03, 2003–04
Shakhtar Donetsk
* Ukrainian Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06