Marin Dragnea

Marin Dragnea (born 1 January 1956) is a former Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Marin Dragnea was born on 1 January 1956 in Slobozia Moară, Romania. He started playing football at the junior squads of Progresul București under coach Nicolae Gorgorin, starting to play at senior level in 1972 when the club was in Divizia B, being given his debut by coach Eugen Iordache and later working with Viorel Mateianu. He was transferred to Dinamo București where he stayed one year without playing as he suffered a cruciate ligament injury while he was a player at Progresul which recurred when he played for them in a friendly. In the following season he was loaned at FC Constanța where on 29 August 1976 he made his Divizia A debut in a 0–0 against Progresul București. After one season with 6 goals scored in 30 games, Dragnea left FC Constanța in order to return at Dinamo where from 1981 until 1984 the team won three consecutive Divizia A titles, in the first he contributed with 7 goals scored in 23 matches, in the second he played 30 games and scored 7 goals and in the third he made 29 appearances and scored a personal record of 15 goals. Dragnea also won three Cupa României with The Red Dogs and appeared in 26 matches in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions, including appearing in 8 games in which he scored one goal against Kuusysi Lahti in the 1983–84 European Cup as the club reached the semi-finals, eliminating title holders, Hamburg in the process. After nine and a half seasons in which he scored 58 goals in 251 Divizia A matches for Dinamo, in the middle of the 1986–87 Divizia A season he was transferred at Flacăra Moreni where in three seasons and a half he made 109 Divizia A appearances in which he scored 21 goals and appeared in both legs of the 4–1 loss on aggregate in the first round of the 1989–90 UEFA Cup against FC Porto. He ended his career by playing one season for Rapid București, making his last Divizia A appearance on 16 June 1991 in a 1–0 loss against Petrolul Ploiești. During his whole career, Marin Dragnea played 405 Divizia A matches in which he scored 85 goals and made 28 appearances in which he scored 3 goals in European competitions.
International career
Marin Dragnea played 5 games at international level for Romania, making his debut when coach Mircea Lucescu used him as a starter in a 1–1 against Spain at the Euro 1984 final tournament. His following game was also at Euro 1984, a 2–1 loss against West Germany. Dragnea's last three games were friendlies, a 1–1 against Israel and a 1–1 and a 0–0 against Iraq.
Managerial career
Marin Dragnea coached teams from the Romanian lower leagues, his most notable period being at Unirea Urziceni when with players brought by him, he promoted the team from Divizia C to Divizia B in 2003. After leading Unirea one more season and a half, he was replaced by Constantin Stănici, but half of year later when his former Dinamo teammate Costel Orac came as head coach, Dragnea worked as his assistant and together they managed to promote the team to Divizia A. He also worked at Poiana Câmpina, ACS Berceni, Juventus Bascov and at junior level.
Honours
Player
Dinamo București
Divizia A: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
Cupa României: 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86
Manager
Unirea Urziceni
Divizia C: 2002–03
Notes
References
External links
Romania National Team 1980–1989 – Details
1956 births
Living people
Romanian men's footballers
Romania men's international footballers
Liga I players
Liga II players
FC Progresul București players
FC Dinamo București players
CSM Flacăra Moreni players
FCV Farul Constanța players
FC Rapid București players
UEFA Euro 1984 players
Men's association football midfielders
Romanian football managers
FC Unirea Urziceni managers
Footballers from Dâmbovița County