Constantin Olteanu (footballer)

Constantin Olteanu (6 January 1946 – 17 April 2021) was a Romanian football defender who spent his entire professional career at Argeș Pitești, winning one league title.^[1][3]

Constantin Olteanu

Personal information
Date of birth	(1946-01-06)6 January 1946[1]
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania[1]
Date of death	17 April 2021(2021-04-17) (aged 75)[2]
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Position(s)	Centre-back[1]
Youth career
	Flacăra Roșie București
	Dinamo București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1978	Argeș Pitești	295	(8)
International career
1971–1972	Romania Olympic	3	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Constantin Olteanu was born on 6 January 1946 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club, Flacăra Roșie where he was teammate with Rică Răducanu, then moving to Dinamo București.^[1][2][4] In 1964 he went to play senior level football at Argeș Pitești, a club at which he would spend the rest of his career, making his Divizia A debut on 27 September in a 2–2 with Știința Craiova.^[1][2][4] At the end of his first season, the team reached the 1965 Cupa României final, however coach Virgil Mărdărescu did not use him in the eventual 2–1 loss in front of Știința Cluj.^[1][5] He started playing in European competitions during the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, appearing all the minutes in a 2–0 win over Sevilla.^[1][6][7][8] That would be his only appearance in the campaign as after they eliminated the Spaniards, they also went pass Toulouse, being defeated in the third round with 1–0 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb who eventually won the competition.^[1][6][7][9] Olteanu helped Argeș win its first Divizia A title in the 1971–72 season, being used by coaches Titus Ozon and Florin Halagian in 20 games in which he scored once.^{[1][2][4][10]} Afterwards he played four games in the 1972–73 European Cup, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid but lost the second leg with 3–1.^{[1][2][4][6][11]} On 15 June 1978, Olteanu made his last Divizia A appearance in a 5–0 home win over UTA Arad in which he scored a goal, having a total of 295 matches with eight goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 10 games in European competitions, including five in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.^[1][2]

International career

Constantin Olteanu played three games for Romania's Olympic team at the 1972 Summer Olympics qualifiers, consisting of two victories over Albania and one loss with Denmark.^[12][13]

Style of play

Olteanu was a player known for being a defender with a spectacular, almost acrobatic style of play.^[2] He used to perform scissors kicks in his own box to repel opposing attacks.^[2]

Personal life

After he ended his playing career, Constantin Olteanu talked about his achievements:"My best friend from FC Argeș was Gicu Dobrin, ever since I came to Pitești. (...) The greatest performance was in 1972, when we took the title of champions.^[2][4] And the fact that, for 14 years, I contributed to the image of this wonderful team that is FC Argeș and that I loved with all my heart is something unforgettable for me."^[2][4]

He was the father-in-law of Florin Motroc and grandfather of Vlad Motroc who were also footballers.^[2][14][15]

Olteanu died on 17 April 2021 at age 75.^[2][4][16]

Honours

Argeș Pitești

• Divizia A: 1971–72^[1]
• Cupa României runner-up: 1964–65^[5]