Costică Ștefănescu

Costică Ștefănescu (26 March 1951 – 20 August 2013) was a Romanian professional football player and coach. He spent the majority of his playing career at Universitatea Craiova, where he made a club-record 378 appearances.^[3] He is also the second all-time appearance leader in Liga I, having played in 490 matches.^[4] In 1983, Ștefănescu was nominated for the Ballon d'Or.^[5][6] He played for the Romania national team from 1977 to 1985, and was capped 66 times.

Costică Ștefănescu

Ștefănescu at the Amsterdam tournament in 1984
Personal information
Full name	Costică Ştefănescu
Date of birth	(1951-03-26)26 March 1951
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Date of death	20 August 2013(2013-08-20) (aged 62)
Place of death	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Youth career
1965–1969	Steaua București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1969–1973	Steaua București	77	(9)
1973–1986	Universitatea Craiova	378	(10)
1986–1988	FCM Braşov	35	(0)
Total		490	(19)
International career
1977–1985	Romania[a]	66	(0)
Managerial career
1986–1989	FC Brașov
1990	Steaua București
1990–1991	Romania U-21
1991–1992	Al-Wakrah
1992–1993	Selena Bacău
1993–1994	Politehnica Timişoara
1994–1998	Romania (assistant)
1999–2000	Astra Ploieşti
2000–2001	CSM Reşiţa
2001–2002	Hapoel Tzafririm Holon
2003	Al Shoala
2003–2005	Al-Jaish Damascus
2006	FC U Craiova
2007	Al-Wahda Damascus
2008	Najran SC
2009	Al Tadamon
2010–2012	Al-Jaish
2012	Al Shamal
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

In August 2013, he died after he jumped from the fifth floor at the hospital in Bucharest, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer.^[7]

Honours

Player

Steaua Bucharest

• Cupa României: 1969–70, 1970–71

Universitatea Craiova

• Divizia A: 1973–74, 1979–80, 1980–81
• Cupa României: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83

Individual

• Romanian Footballer of the Year runner-up: 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985

Coach

Al-Wakrah

• Qatar Sheikh Jassem Cup: 1991

Al-Jaish

• Syrian Cup: 2004
• AFC Cup: 2004

Notes

1. Including two appearances for Romania's Olympic team.^[1][2]