Mihai Mocanu

Mihai Mocanu (24 February 1942 – 18 June 2009) was a Romanian football defender.

Mihai Mocanu

Mocanu with Petrolul Ploiești in 1966
Personal information
Date of birth	24 February 1942
Place of birth	Constanța, Romania
Date of death	18 June 2009(2009-06-18) (aged 67)
Place of death	Constanța, Romania
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1952–1956	Locomotiva Constanța
1956–1958	Rafinăria Câmpina
1959–1960	Electrica Constanța
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1962	SNM Constanța
1962–1963	Chimia Făgăraș
1963–1972	Petrolul Ploiești	201	(6)
1972–1974	Omonia Nicosia	8[a]	(0)
1974–1976	Petrolul Ploiești
Total		209	(6)
International career
1966–1971	Romania[b]	33	(0)
Managerial career
1975	Petrolul Ploiești
	Steaua Mizil
1984–1986	Metalul Plopeni
1991–2005	Conpet Ploiești
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Mihai Mocanu was born on 24 February 1942 in Constanța, Romania starting to play football in 1952 at local club, Locomotiva, afterwards going to play for Rafinăria Câmpina, returning to his hometown at Electrica where he finished his junior career, starting his senior career in Divizia B, playing for two seasons at SNM Constanța, afterwards going for one season at fellow Divizia B club, Chimia Făgăraș.^[3][4][5][6]

Mocanu (front row, first from the right) with Petrolul in 1963

He went to play for Petrolul Ploiești, making his Divizia A debut on 25 August 1963 in a 2–1 away loss in front of UTA Arad, making a total of 201 appearances with six goals scored in the competition over the course of nine seasons in which he also helped the Yellow Wolves win the 1965–66 Divizia A, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 26 matches.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} He played three games for Petrolul in the first round of the 1966–67 European Cup against Liverpool which include a 3–1 victory, however they did not manage to qualify to the next round and he also appeared in six games in which he scored one goal in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.^{[3][4][5][7][9][10][11]} After he made his last Divizia A appearance for Petrolul on 12 December 1971 in a 1–0 home loss against Jiul Petroșani, Mocanu went to play in Cyprus at Omonia Nicosia for two seasons with fellow Romanian, Constantin Frățilă, winning the title and the cup in 1974.^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][9][12]} He returned in Romania, playing another two seasons for Petrolul, this time in Divizia B, retiring in 1976.^{[3][4][5][6][7][9]}

International career

Mocanu (second from the left) with Romania ahead of their friendly match against England in 1968

Mocanu played 31 games at international level of Romania, making his debut on 1 June 1966 under coach Ilie Oană in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss against West Germany.^[2][13] He went on to play four games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers and two at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, being used at the final tournament by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches as Romania did not advance to the next stage and had a appreciated performance in the 3–2 loss against Brazil in the duel with his direct opponent, Jairzinho.^{[2][5][6][14]} He made three appearances at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, including his last appearance which took place on 22 September 1971 in a 4–0 away victory against Finland.^[2]

For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Mocanu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.^[4][15][16]

Managerial career

Mocanu coached Petrolul Ploiești for one year in Divizia B, also working at the center of children and juniors of the club, he also coached Steaua Mizil, Metalul Plopeni and Conpet Ploiești from 1991 until 2005, all of them in the Romanian lower leagues.^{[4][5][6][7][9][14][17]}

Personal life and death

Mocanu's son was also a footballer, playing for a while at Conpet Ploiești with his father as coach.^[7] He received the Honorary Citizen of Ploiești title.^[4][5][7]

In July 2006, part of Mocanu's right leg was amputated after he was diagnosed with ischemia. He died on 18 June 2009, at the age of 67.^{[4][5][6][7][9][18]}

Honours

Petrolul Ploiești

• Divizia A: 1965–66^[1]

Omonia Nicosia

• Cypriot League: 1973–74^[1]
• Cypriot Cup: 1973–74^[1]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1973–74 Cypriot First Division season are not available.^[1]
2. Including 2 appearances for Romania's Olympic team.^[2][1]