# Sorin Vlaicu

Sorin Vlaicu (born 3 June 1965) is a retired Romanian international footballer.

## Club career

Vlaicu was born on 3 June 1965 in Șimian, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1979, aged 14 at local club, Mecanizatorul. He started his senior career, also at Mecanizatorul, going afterwards at Armata Craiova, then in 1986 at Divizia C club, UM Timișoara.
In 1987, Vlaicu signed with Politehnica Timișoara where he worked with coach Ion Ionescu who gave him his Divizia A debut on 14 May 1988 in a 6–0 away loss to Dinamo București. At the end of his first season, the team relegated to Divizia B but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one year, contributing with four goals scored, including one in a 3–1 West derby victory against UTA Arad. He started playing in European competitions in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup edition where coach Constantin Rădulescu used him in four matches, as in the first round they got past Atlético Madrid with 2–1 on aggregate, being eliminated in the next round by Sporting Lisbon against whom he scored once. He helped the club reach the 1992 Cupa României final, coach Ionescu using him all the minutes in the loss at the penalty shoot-out to Steaua București, Vlaicu missing one of Politehnica's spot kicks.
Vlaicu was transferred in 1992 by the 1991 European Champions Red Star Belgrade. He left the Yugoslavs after only half of season to return at Politehnica, Red Star managing to win the Yugoslavia Cup without him. The White-Purples relegated at the end of the 1993–94 season, spending afterwards one more year with them in Divizia B. In 1995 he moved to Hungary to play for Békéscsaba, making his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut on 10 May under coach József Pásztor in a 0–0 with Újpest. Five days later, Vlaicu scored his first goal in a 2–2 with Győr. He made his last Nemzeti Bajnokság I on 23 June 1996 in a 3–1 home victory against Győr, having a total of 14 games with two goals scored in the competition. Afterwards he made a third comeback at Politehnica with whom in the 1996–97 season he relegated once again to the second division, spending there one year and half.
In the following years, Vlaicu played for Divizia B clubs, Drobeta-Turnu Severin and UM Timișoara, managing with the latter to earn promotion to the first league in the 2000–01 season. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 1 June 2002 in UM's 1–0 home loss to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, having a total of 214 matches with 19 goals scored in the competition. He ended his career one year later, playing with UM and CFR Timișoara in the Romanian lower leagues.

## International career

Vlaicu played four friendly games for Romania, making his debut on 17 April 1991 when coach Mircea Rădulescu sent him as a substitute to replace captain Gheorghe Hagi in the 61st minute of a 2–0 away victory against Spain. He made his last appearance for the national team on 8 April 1992 in a 2–0 home win over Latvia.

## Managerial career

Vlaicu coached Timișul Albina during the 2005–06 Divizia D season, at the end of which the team earned promotion to Divizia C. In March 2014 he was brought by Dan Alexa to be his assistant at ACS Poli Timișoara. He also coached juniors.

## Honours
### Player

Politehnica Timișoara
* Divizia B: 1988–89
* Cupa României runner-up: 1991–92
Red Star Belgrade
* FR Yugoslav Cup: 1992–93
UM Timișoara
* Divizia B: 2000–01

### Manager

Timișul Albina
* Divizia D: 2005–06