Mircea Stoenescu

Mircea Stoenescu (11 October 1943 – 5 January 2022) was a Romanian football centre-back, manager and referee.^[1][2]

Mircea Stoenescu

Stoenescu with Dinamo București in 1968
Personal information
Date of birth	(1943-10-11)11 October 1943[1]
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania[1]
Date of death	5 January 2022(2022-01-05) (aged 78)
Place of death	Drăgășani, Romania
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s)	Centre back[1]
Youth career
	Dinamo București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1961	Dinamo București	2	(0)
1961–1963	Dinamo Obor București
1963–1965	Dinamo Pitești	36	(9)
1965–1973	Dinamo București	120	(2)
1973–1975	Dinamo Slatina[a]	15	(2)
Total		173	(13)
International career
1965–1966	Romania U23	2	(0)
Managerial career
	Dinamo Victoria București
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Stoenescu, nicknamed "Basul" was born on 11 October 1943 in Bucharest, Romania.^[1][3][4] He started his career by playing at the junior squads of Dinamo București, winning a national title at children level in 1959 and one at junior level in 1961.^[3] He made his Divizia A debut on 9 July 1961, playing for The Red Dogs in a 2–0 home victory against Steagul Roșu Brașov.^[1] In the following season he made one Divizia A appearance as the club won the title.^[1][3][5] Afterwards he went to play for two seasons at Divizia B club, Dinamo Obor București and another two seasons at Divizia A team, Dinamo Pitești with whom he reached the 1965 Cupa României final, coach Virgil Mărdărescu using him all the minutes in the eventual 2–1 loss to Știința Cluj.^[1][3][5][6]

In 1965, Stoenescu returned to Dinamo București for an eight seasons spell, in which he won two titles, in the first he was used by coaches Nicolae Dumitru and Traian Ionescu in 20 games and in the second coach Ion Nunweiller gave him eight appearances in which he scored once.^[1][3][5] He also played four Cupa României finals, winning only the one from 1968 in which coach Bazil Marian used him all the minutes in the 3–1 win over Rapid București.^{[1][3][7][8][9][10]}

He made his last Divizia A appearance on 5 November 1972, playing for Dinamo București in a 1–0 away loss against ASA Târgu Mureș, having a total of 158 matches with 11 goals scored in the competition and also seven appearances in European competitions (including four games in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).^[1] Stoenescu ended his playing career in 1975, after spending two seasons at Divizia B team, Dinamo Slatina.^[1]

International career

Between 1965 and 1966, Stoenescu made two appearances for Romania's under-23 squad, playing in a victory over Soviet Union and a draw with Austria.^[11]

After retirement

After he ended his playing career, Stoenescu worked for a while as a coach at Dinamo Victoria București in the lower leagues of Romania and as a referee, arbitrating 39 matches over the course of six seasons in Romania's top-league Divizia A.^{[3][2][12][13]} He was also president at Dinamo București.^[14][15]

Style of play

Stoenescu was nicknamed "Jandarmul lui Dobrin" (The Gendarme of Dobrin) for his duels on the field with the famous player with whom he was a colleague during his spell at Dinamo Pitești, saying in a Gazeta Sporturilor interview from 2019:"Well, I hit the ground with Gicu Dobrin, I made him one with the grass, how I used to roll him! Of course, within the bounds of sportsmanship, because he also ate a piece of bread, after the games we complimented each other. With "Mopsu'" Dumitrache I didn't really succeed, because I had a hard time catching him, he was a brilliant footballer, I say better than Dobrin! I'm not saying that I haven't fouled, but never with a harshness that exceeded the limits, to put the man in front of me in the hospital."^[2][3][6]

For a while he played with youngster Cornel Dinu in Dinamo București's defense who after his death wrote an editorial in which he praised Stoenescu's altruistic play:"Go, "Dinoașcă" (that's how he would caress me...), I'll cover you... But don't leave me too long with Săndel (Boc) because he tries again an "oxford" (hitting the ball with the exterior of the heel) and we'll have to take it again from place for recovery."^[4]

Death

Mircea Stoenescu died in Drăgășani on 5 January 2022, at the age of 78.^[3]

Honours

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1961–62, 1970–71, 1972–73^[1]
• Cupa României: 1967–68, runner-up 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71^{[7][8][9][10]}

Dinamo Pitești

• Cupa României runner-up: 1964–65^[6]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1974–75 Divizia B season are unavailable.^[1]