Cătălin George Hîldan (3 February 1976 – 5 October 2000) was a Romanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Cătălin Hîldan first came into contact with sports at the age of eight at the rugby club Olimpia together with his older brother Cristian. Two years later, in the summer of 1986, he joined football club

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

where he worked with coach Ionuț Chirilă, playing alongside

Florentin Petre Florentin Petre (born 15 January 1976) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently assistant coach at Liga I club Dinamo București. Club career Florentin Petre was born on 15 January 1976 in Bucharest, Romania, gr ...

, Mihai Tararache and others. His first match for Dinamo was on 2 October 1994 when coach Ion Moldovan sent him on the field in the 39th minute to replace Sulejman Demollari in a

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

against Steaua București which ended with a 2–0 loss. After a couple of months he was loaned to Oțelul Târgoviște in the third league, where he helped the team win promotion to the second division and then to the first. He was recalled to Dinamo by coach

Cornel Dinu Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spen ...

. In a couple of years he became the team's captain. In the 1999–2000 season, under the guidance of Dinu, Hîldan played 29 league games in which he scored one goal, helping Dinamo win the league title for the first time in nine years, which was won mathematically after a 3–2 victory against Steaua, also in the same season, he scored the second goal of the 2–0 victory in the Cupa României final against Universitatea Craiova. He played a total of 138 matches in which he scored six goals in Divizia A, also appearing in 11 matches without scoring in European competitions.

International career

Cătălin Hîldan played 8 friendly games and scored one goal for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, making his debut on 3 March 1999 when coach

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

introduced him in the 85th minute to replace Gheorghe Popescu in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. He scored his only goal for the national team in a 1–1 against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and played his last game on 3 June 2000 in a 2–1 victory against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Hîldan was a part of

's squad at the

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

final tournament, but did not play.

International goals

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

Death

Cătălin Hîldan died on 5 October 2000, while playing in a friendly match between Dinamo and Șantierul Naval Oltenița, having a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

in the 74th minute of the game and fell to the ground. Before his death he was nicknamed "The only captain" by Dinamo's fans, a nickname that became more popular after his death and his number, 11, was retired by Dinamo in his honor. The north stand of the Dinamo Stadium is named "Peluza Cătălin Hîldan" (Cătălin Hîldan Stand), in his honor, also the Stadionul Cătălin Hîldan from his native Brănești is named after him. In 2006, he was posthumously named one of the 100 Greatest Romanians in a nationwide poll. A book about him was written by Ioan Chilom, called ''Unicul căpitan. Cătălin Hîldan, câine până la moarte'' ''(The only captain. Cătălin Hîldan, dog until death)''.

Honours

Oțelul Târgoviște *

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

: 1995–96 *

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

: 1994–95 Dinamo București *

: 1999–00 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 1999–00

Notes

References

External links

Cătălin Hîldan
from the BBC Euro 2000 information website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildan, Catalin 1976 births 2000 deaths Footballers from Ilfov County Romanian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players FC Dinamo București players FCM Târgoviște players UEFA Euro 2000 players Romania men's international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in Romania Association football players with retired numbers