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Victor Pițurcă
Personal information
Pițurcă with Romania in 2014
Date of birth	(1956-05-08) 8 May 1956 (age 69)
Place of birth	Orodel, Romania
Height	1.85 m
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1964–1974	Universitatea Craiova
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1974–1977	Universitatea Craiova	8	(0)
1974–1975	→ Dinamo Slatina (loan)
1977–1979	Pandurii Târgu Jiu
1978–1979	Olt Scornicești	118	(28)
1979–1983	Steaua București	175	(137)
1983–1989	Lens	28	(4)
Total		321	(169)
National team
1985–1987	Romania	13	(6)
Teams managed
1991–1992	Steaua București (assistant)
1992	Steaua București
1994–1995	FC Universitatea Craiova
1996–1998	Romania U21
1998–1999	Romania
2000–2002	Steaua București
2002–2004	Steaua București
2004–2009	Romania
2010	Steaua București
2010–2011	FC Universitatea Craiova
2011–2014	Romania
2014–2015	Al-Ittihad
2015–2016	Al-Ittihad
2019–2020	Universitatea Craiova
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Victor Pițurcă (born May 8, 1956) is a famous Romanian football manager and a former player. He was known as a great striker during his playing days. Later, he became a successful coach for many teams, including the Romanian national football team.

Victor Pițurcă's Playing Career

Victor Pițurcă started playing football in 1964 at Universitatea Craiova when he was just 8 years old. In 1974, he began his senior career playing for Dinamo Slatina. He later returned to Universitatea Craiova.

Early Club Teams

Pițurcă didn't play much at Universitatea Craiova at first. So, he moved to Pandurii Târgu Jiu in the second division. He scored many goals there, helping his team get promoted back to a higher league in 1979. After that, he played for Olt Scornicești for four years.

Time at Steaua București

In 1983, Victor Pițurcă joined Steaua București, a very famous Romanian club. This was a big step in his career. He helped Steaua win five league titles in a row!

He was a key player when Steaua won "The Double" in the 1984–85 season. This means they won both the league and the Romanian Cup. He scored the winning goal in the Cup final against his old team, Universitatea Craiova.

Pițurcă was also a top scorer for Steaua in the 1985–86 European Cup. He scored five goals in that tournament. Steaua famously won the final against Barcelona after a penalty shootout. This was a huge victory for the club.

He continued to help Steaua win more trophies, including another "Double" in 1987. In the 1987–88 season, he was the top goal scorer in the Romanian league with 34 goals. He was also one of the top scorers in Europe that year.

His last season with Steaua was 1988–89. They won another "Double" and reached the European Cup final again. Even though they lost to AC Milan, Pițurcă had a great tournament. He played his last game in Romania in June 1989.

Moving to France and Retirement

After his success in Romania, Pițurcă moved to France in 1989. He played for Lens in the French second division for one season. After that, he decided to end his playing career.

In 2008, he received a special award from the President of Romania. This was to honor his achievement of winning the European Cup in 1986.

Victor Pițurcă's International Career

Victor Pițurcă also played for the Romanian national team. He played 13 games and scored 6 goals for his country.

He made his debut in March 1985. He scored his first two goals for Romania in a friendly game against Norway. He also scored two goals in the qualifiers for the Euro 1988 tournament. His last game for Romania was in November 1987.

International Stats

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1985	3	0
	1986	4	4
	1987	6	2
Total		13	6

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Victor Pițurcă goal.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	4 June 1986	Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania	Norway	1–0	3–1	Friendly
2	4 June 1986	Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania	Norway	2–0	3–1	Friendly
3	8 October 1986	Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel	Israel	1–0	4–2	Friendly
4	8 October 1986	Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel	Israel	4–1	4–2	Friendly
5	25 March 1987	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Albania	1–0	5–1	Euro 1988 qualifiers
6	29 April 1987	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Spain	1–0	3–1	Euro 1988 qualifiers

Victor Pițurcă's Coaching Journey

After retiring as a player, Victor Pițurcă became a football coach. His first coaching job was as an assistant at Steaua București.

Early Coaching Roles

He quickly became the head coach of Steaua București in 1992. In his first season, he led the team to second place in the league. He also won the Romanian Cup with them.

In 1994, he coached Universitatea Craiova. He helped them finish second in the league during the 1994–95 season.

Coaching the National Youth Team

In 1996, Pițurcă became the coach of Romania's Under-21 team. He led them to qualify for their first European Championship in 1998. They won all 8 of their qualification matches! Many players from that team later played for the senior Romanian national team.

Coaching the Senior National Team (First and Second Spells)

Because of his success with the Under-21 team, Pițurcă was chosen to manage the senior Romanian national team in 1998. He helped them qualify for the Euro 2000 tournament. However, he left the team before the tournament due to disagreements with some of the star players.

He returned to Steaua București in 2000 and won the league title in 2001. He also won the Romanian Supercup that year. He left Steaua in 2002 but came back later that year. He led them to second place in the league twice more.

In 2004, he became the manager of the Romanian national team for the second time. He helped Romania qualify for Euro 2008. They even beat the Netherlands for the first time ever! At Euro 2008, Romania was in a tough group with France and Italy. They drew with both teams but were eliminated after losing to the Netherlands. He left the national team in 2009.

Later Coaching Roles

In 2010, Pițurcă had short coaching spells at Steaua and Universitatea Craiova. He left both clubs after disagreements with the owners.

On June 14, 2011, he returned to coach the Romanian national team for a third time. His goal was to build a strong team for future tournaments. He almost led Romania to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. They reached the play-offs but lost to Greece. He left the national team in 2014 to coach in Saudi Arabia. Many young players he helped develop later played a big part in Romania qualifying for Euro 2016.

Coaching in Saudi Arabia

In October 2014, Victor Pițurcă signed a contract with Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. He faced some challenges there and left the club in June 2015. He returned to Al-Ittihad in December of the same year but left again in July 2016.

His most recent coaching job was with Universitatea Craiova in Romania. He signed with them in August 2019 but resigned in January 2020. This was because he was not happy that the club did not want to sign the players he wanted.

Victor Pițurcă has coached a total of 204 matches in the top Romanian league. He has won 116 of those games.

Victor Pițurcă's Personal Life

Victor Pițurcă has a son named Alexandru, who also played football as a striker. Victor even coached his son at Steaua București and Universitatea Craiova.

His cousin, Eugen Neagoe, was also a footballer and a coach. Sadly, another cousin, Florin Pițurcă, passed away at a young age in 1978.

The press sometimes called Victor Pițurcă Satana ("Satan"). He found this nickname "remarkable."

Honours and Achievements

Victor Pițurcă achieved many great things as both a player and a coach.

As a Player

Pandurii Târgu Jiu

Divizia C (Third League): 1978–79

Steaua București

Divizia A (First League Champion): 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
Cupa României (Romanian Cup): 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
European Cup: 1985–86 Winner, 1988–89 Runner-up
European Supercup: 1986 Winner
Intercontinental Cup Runner-up: 1986

Individual Player Awards

Divizia A top scorer: 1987–88
European Bronze Boot: 1987–88 (third highest scorer in European leagues)

As a Coach