Emerich Alexandru Jenei (also known as Emeric Jenei or Imre Jenei; 22 March 1937) is a

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 ...

n former

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 ...

player and manager. He is considered one of Romania's best managers, alongside Ştefan Kovács,

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

, and Anghel Iordănescu. On 25 March 2008, the Romanian president decorated him with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class II with one barret for his part in winning the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

with Romanian club Steaua București in 1986. He is the 2nd most successful Manager in Romania, tied with Dan Petrescu, winning the Romanian First League on 6 occasions, all with Steaua București. First is ranked Nicolae Dumitru, who has won 7 championships, all with Dinamo București .

Biography

Jenei was born in Agrișu Mic,

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( județ) of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crișana and few villages in Banat. The administrative cente ...

, to ethnic Hungarian parents. As a child, he moved with his family to Losonc (now

Lučenec Lučenec (; ; ; ; Lelkes György (1992), Magyar helységnév-azonosító szótár, Balassi Kiadó, Budapest, 508 p.) is a town in the Banská Bystrica Region of south-central Slovakia. Historically, it was part, and in the 18th century the capital ...

, Slovakia), because his father did not want to serve in the Romanian army. Later his father became a Hungarian soldier, but following the end of the war he did not come back and Jenei with his mother moved back to Arad. Two years after they resettled in their old home, Jenei's father, who was held in captivity, unexpectedly returned. Not much later Jenei's mother died when he was only 12 years old. Emeric Jenei 1963

Before his professional football career, Jenei wanted to become a lawyer. He made his debut playing for ''Flamura Roșie Arad'' – now UT Arad, in the Romanian

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 ...

. In 1957, at age 20, he signed with Steaua club in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

(1957). He played for Steaua until 1969, when he left Romania to play in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

for

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, and also called Bellona Kayserispor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the RHG Enertürk Enerji Stadium ...

. He had reached the age of 32, when Romania's

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

authorities would allow few players to move abroad. In 1971, Jenei retired as player and became a coach. During his career as a footballer, he won 6 caps for Romania's national team (between 1959 and 1963). The highlights of his career as a player were the Romanian football championship titles he won with Steaua in 1959–60, 1960–61 and 1967–68, as well as his participation with Romania's Olympic team at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where the Romanians came on 5th place. As a coach, Jenei continued to enjoy success. Having returned from Turkey, he was named assistant coach at Steaua at the beginning of the 1972–73 season. One year later, he was promoted to a head coaching position and finished 5th in Divizia, winning his first championship title as coach in 1976, then finishing as a runner-up in 1977. He won another championship title in 1978, but at the end of the season he was replaced by Gheorghe Constantin. In 1978–79, Jenei coached FC Bihor of

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

, but the team finished the season in last place and he was sacked as a result. In 1981, he took over at CS Târgovişte, and the beginning of the 1982–83 season found him as coach of Steaua for a second stint. After two years, in which failed to win the championship, he was again sacked, only to be brought back after four months. In 1985, he won a new championship and in the following season led Steaua București to victory in the European Cup final against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in May 1986. In the summer of 1986, Jenei was named co-head coach of the Romania national football team, together with

, making his debut against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Lucescu was sacked after a short while and Jenei became the only national team coach. He failed to qualify the team for the

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

, but took the team to World Cup 1990. It was the first qualification of Romania at a World Cup in twenty years. Between August 1986 and June 1990, Jenei coached the team in 40 games, including two wins against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 1987 and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1989. After the World Cup, He returned to Steaua București in April 1991, for the fourth time, only to be sacked again in December of same year. He was named head coach of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

between 1992 and 1993, but failed to produce notable results, instead he won the

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan national football team, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (Internatio ...

in 1993, an international tournament organized by

, and later being replaced by

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

. Jenei did not return to the pitch for a while, but, in August 1993, Emerich Jenei began his fifth stint as coach of Steaua, and won the championship one year later. In 1996, he was named head coach of Universitatea Craiova but was sacked after only ten games. Two years later he returned to Steaua for his sixth and final stint there. In 2000, Jenei he was again called to coach Romania. The squad qualified for

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 ...

but the previous coach – Victor Piţurcă – was sacked after a scandal which involved the team's best players, including Gheorghe Popescu and

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

. At

, Jenei took the team to the last eight, one of the team's best performances. During his second stint, the national team played 11 games. In June 2000, he decided to retire from coaching. After that date, Jenei was president of FC Bihor and also worked for 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 ...

. He is regularly consulted by the Romanian media for his opinion ahead of important football games for Romanian clubs, especially Steaua, or the Romania national team. Until her death in 2021, Jenei was married to Ileana, former fencer for Romania, world champion and Olympic medalist. They have a daughter named Cristina. Jenei also has a son named Călin with his first wife, actress Vasilica Tastaman.

Managerial statistics

(as of 10 May 2024)

Honours

Player

;Steaua Bucharest * Romanian League (3): 1959–60, 1960–61 1967–68 *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

(4): 1961–62, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69 ;Romania U19 * UEFA Junior Tournament (1):

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

;Romania Olympic team * Olympic Games Japan Fifth-place (1):

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Manager

;Steaua Bucharest *

(6): 1975–76, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1993–94 *

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 ...

(3): 1975–76, 1984–85, 1998–99 *

(1): 1985–86

Notes

References

External links

Profile
at SteauaFC.com * *
Managerial stats
at labtof.ro

at kayserispor.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenei, Emerich 1937 births Living people 1990 FIFA World Cup managers Men's association football midfielders FC Bihor Oradea (1958) managers FCSB managers FCSB players FC U Craiova 1948 managers FC UTA Arad players FCM Târgoviște managers Fehérvár FC managers Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Hungary national football team managers Kayserispor footballers Liga I players Olympic footballers for Romania Panionios F.C. managers Footballers from Arad County Romania national football team managers Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian football managers Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent UEFA Champions League–winning managers UEFA Euro 2000 managers 20th-century Romanian sportsmen