Daniel Oprița

Daniel Ionel Oprița (born 10 August 1981) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently in charge of Liga II club CSA Steaua București.

Daniel Oprița

Personal information
Full name	Daniel Ionel Oprița
Date of birth	(1981-08-10) 10 August 1981 (age 44)
Place of birth	Drăgănești-Olt, Romania
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Winger, forward
Team information
Current team	CSA Steaua București (head coach)
Youth career
1994–1995	CSȘ Caracal
1995–2000	Argeș Pitești
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000	Minerul Moldova Nouă
2001–2002	CSM Reșița	33	(7)
2002–2007	Steaua București	107	(15)
2007–2008	Dinamo București	5	(0)
2008	→ UTA Arad (loan)	6	(0)
2008–2009	Lorca Deportiva	3	(0)
2009	→ Aarau (loan)	15	(0)
2009	Baku	3	(0)
2010–2013	Petrolul Ploiești	89	(26)
2013	Mordovia Saransk	11	(2)
2013–2014	Universitatea Craiova	8	(1)
2014	Metalul Reșița	13	(1)
Total		293	(52)
International career
2002	Romania U21	4	(1)
2003–2006	Romania	7	(1)
Managerial career
2014–2015	Metalul Reșița
2015	Steaua București (assistant)
2015–2017	Juventus București
2017–2018	CSMȘ Reşiţa
2018	Voluntari
2019	Mioveni
2019–	CSA Steaua București
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Oprița began his career at Minerul Moldova Nouă in 2000 in Divizia C, the third tier of the Romanian football, being transferred to CSM Reșița in 2001 in Divizia B, the second tier of the Romanian football pyramid. In 2002, he moved on to Steaua București, making the step up to Divizia A in the top tier of the Romanian football. Oprița spent the next seven years of his career in Bucharest winning the Divizia A in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and also the Supercupa României in 2005–06. He scored 15 goals in 107 appearances whilst at Steaua București.

On 12 April 2007, he moved across Bucharest to play for city rivals Dinamo București on a four-year contract. His time at the club was not a success and he played just five games without scoring. Later, in 2008, he signed for UTA Arad.

After one season with the club, Oprița terminated his contract and moved to south-east Spain to play for Lorca Deportiva of the Segunda División B, the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Oprița failed to settle in Spain and returned to Romania after just one month and three games. Due to the Transfer window being closed, he was unable to sign for a new team until the winter break. In January 2009, he signed a six-month loan contract with FC Aarau of the Swiss Super League.^[1]

Style of play

Despite playing as a striker, Oprița did not score many goals, he was a more of a target man and his main ability was to create spaces for his teammates, where many goals were from. He was very committed while playing, and he was also technically gifted.

International career

For Romania, Oprița was capped seven times and scoring one goal. He made his debut in 2003 against Ukraine.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	2003	2	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	1	1
	2006	4	0
Total		7	1

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Oprița goal.

List of international goals scored by Daniel Oprița

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 February 2005	Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Slovakia	2–2	2–2	Friendly

Honours

Player

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 2004–05, 2005–06
• Supercupa României: 2006

Petrolul Ploiești

• Liga II: 2010–11

Coach

Juventus București

• Liga II: 2016–17
• Liga III: 2015–16

CSA Steaua București

• Liga III: 2020–21
• Liga IV – Bucharest: 2019–20