Dorian Marin (born 18 June 1960) is a Romanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach who last managed Nigerian side Calabar Rovers.

Coaching career

In 1991, Marin attended the federal coaching school of the

Romanian Football Federation The Romanian Football Federation (; FRF) is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated with FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation organizes the men's ...

which he graduated in 1992. He began his coaching career in his native Romania where he managed lower league sides Minerul Comănești, Baia Mare and Midia Năvodari. Between 2001 and 2004, Marin was in charge of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n clubs Hutteen and Qardaha before moving to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

where he coached

Racing Beirut Racing Club (), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Fouad Chehab Stadium and are primarily supported by the ...

in the 2004–05 season. After quitting his job in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Marin was named coach of both the

Eritrea national football team The Eritrea national football team represents Eritrea in men's international association football, football and it is controlled by the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF). It is nicknamed the ''Red Sea Boys''. It has never qualified ...

and the Eritrean under-17 simultaneously. He managed to qualify his Eritrea U17 side at the

2007 African U-17 Championship The 2007 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Togo. For the first time, the top four teams qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup (because o ...

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

after defeating in the qualifiers Libya, Egypt and Zambia. In qualification for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, under the guidance of Marin, Eritrea finished second behind

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, failing to qualify for the final tournament. However they beat

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

twice and drew at home to Angola. The Eritrea side were primarily made up of local players compared to Kenya who had at least seven foreign-based footballers playing their trade in Europe. Eritrea registered massive improvement in the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

rankings during his tenure climbing 56 positions, from position 177 in June 2006 to 121 in July 2007. In December 2007, Marin signed with newly promoted

Ugandan Super League The Ugandan Premier League, also known as the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations. The league was previously known as the Uganda Super League but changed i ...

side Nalubaale FC. His contract was cancelled on 30 September 2008 due to the financial difficulties of the club. Marin then took control of

Uganda Revenue Authority The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is a government revenue collection agency established by the Parliament of Uganda. Operating under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Uganda), Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic ...

in January 2008. In 2009, he moved to

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

managing

Al-Nasr Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is one of only three clubs to have participated ...

for two years before returning to Syria, where he was appointed as the new head coach of Tishreen in 2011. Unfortunately, he left the club because of the Syrian Civil War. After Samson Siasia left Nigerian club Heartland to manage the Nigerian national team in 2010, Marin was one of four European coaches named on the shortlist to replace him. In January 2014, it was announced that Marin took over as coach of Ghanaian side King Faisal Babes. After Kind Faisal Babes did not pay Marin's salaries for three consecutive months in the end of 2014, he left the club. Shortly after he was one of four coaches that were shortlisted to become the new head coach of the Egypt national team In May 2017, Marin was unveiled as the new head coach of Kenyan club

Leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, thus leaving his former club Tishreen (whom he led to a second-place finish in the 2016–17 Syrian Premier League). In June, after only two matches in charge he left after a disagreement with the club's leadership. On 6 November 2017, he was hired by Nigerian club Calabar Rovers as their new head coach. In January 2019, he stepped down from his role at Calabar.

References