Viorel Vișan

Viorel Vișan (born 21 January 1952) is a Romanian former footballer and manager.^[2][3]

Viorel Vișan

Personal information
Date of birth	(1952-01-21) 21 January 1952 (age 73)[1]
Place of birth	Gădăleni, Romania[1]
Position(s)	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1976	CFR Cluj	177	(0)
1976–1982	Politehnica Timișoara	173	(0)
1982–1984	CFR Timișoara
1984–1985	UM Timișoara
Total		350	(0)
Managerial career
1991	Politehnica Timișoara
1999	CSM Reșița (assistant)
1999	CSM Reșița (caretaker)
1999–2000	CSM Reșița (assistant)
2000	CSM Reșița (caretaker)
2003	Politehnica Timișoara
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17 January 2020

He was mostly known for his spell as a player at Politehnica Timișoara with whom he won the 1979–80 Cupa României, scoring one goal in the final against Steaua București, also helping them eliminate Celtic in the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Playing career

Vișan was born on 21 January 1952 in Gădăleni, Romania, starting to play football at the youth system of CFR Cluj.^[1][4] He started his senior career during the 1968–69 Divizia B season at the end of which CFR earned promotion to the first division.^[1] In the following season, coach Constantin Rădulescu gave him his Divizia A debut on 7 December 1969, while he was aged 17 in The Railwaymen's 4–2 away loss to Farul Constanța.^[1][4]

In 1976, Vișan signed with Politehnica Timișoara where his first performance was earning a third place in the 1977–78 season.^[1][3] Afterwards he made his debut in European competitions, playing in four games from the 1978–79 UEFA Cup campaign as they eliminated MTK Hungária in the first round, being eliminated by Budapest Honved in the following one.^[1][5] He won the only trophy of his career, the 1979–80 Cupa României, being used by coach Ion Ionescu all the minutes of the final with Steaua București in which he opened the score in the 2–1 victory.^[1][3][6] He then helped the club eliminate Celtic in the first round of the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup, being eliminated with 4–1 on aggregate in the following one by West Ham United.^[1][7][8] He reached with Poli another Cupa României final in 1981, which was lost to Universitatea Craiova, Vișan being used the full 90 minutes by coach Ionescu in the 6–0 loss.^[1][9] He made his last Divizia A appearance on 6 December 1981 in Politehnica's 2–0 away loss to Argeș Pitești, having a total of 346 appearances in the competition and 10 matches in European competitions.^[1] Vișan ended his career in 1985, after playing two years for CFR Timișoara in the second league and one at UM Timișoara in the third league.^[1]

Managerial career

Vișan started his career as head coach in 1991 at Politehnica Timișoara, following the departure of Costică Rădulescu, being replaced in the summer of the same year by Ion Ionescu for whom he continued to work as an assistant.^[10][11] From 1999 until 2000 he worked as head coach and assistant at CSM Reșița.^[10][12] In 2003 he had his second spell as head coach at Politehnica, after which he gained a total of 29 games managed in Divizia A.^[10][2] Vișan also coached juniors, winning the 2002–03 national junior championship with Politehnica Timișoara.^{[2][3][13][14]}

Honours

CFR Cluj

• Divizia B: 1968–69^[1]

Politehnica Timișoara

• Cupa României: 1979–80, runner-up 1980–81^[1]