Marin Tufan (born 16 October 1942) is a Romanian former football player who played as a striker, spending most of his career playing for Farul Constanța.

Club career

Marin Tufan was born on 16 October 1942 in

Istria, Constanța Istria is a commune in Romania, commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is located between the lower Danube and the Dobruja coast of the Black Sea. The ancient site of Histria (ancient city), Histria is found nearby. Villages ...

, Romania, growing up in Sinoe, starting to play football at age 18 as a junior at

Cimentul Medgidia Clubul Sportiv Medgidia, commonly known as CS Medgidia, or simply as Medgidia, is a Romanian sports club from Medgidia, Constanța County, Romania, founded in 1952. Its professional football club currently play in the Liga IV. Apart from footb ...

where his first coach was

Kostas Choumis Kostas Choumis (, , born 20 November 1913 in Piraeus, Greece – deceased 20 July 1981 in Athens) was a Greek-Romanian football player who played as a striker. He is often regarded in Greece and Romania as one of the greatest strikers from the ...

. Shortly afterwards he started to play at the senior squad of Cimentul in

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 ...

. He was noticed in a friendly with Farul Constanța by the opponents team's coach,

Petre Steinbach Petre Steinbach (1 January 1906 – 1996), was a Romanian football midfielder and manager. Club career Petre Steinbach was born on 1 January 1906 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary, being of Banat Swabian ethnicity, starting to play football in 1925 ...

, who brought him to the club, giving him his

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 ...

debut on 15 September 1963 in the last 20 minutes of a 2–0 away loss against

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

. In the following game, a 4–0 home win over

Știința Timișoara Știința means "science" in Romanian. When transliterated from the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet, it may be spelled Shtiintsa. The word may refer to: * Editura Știința, a publishing house in Moldavian SSR and Moldova *Sports clubs associated with ...

he played as a starter and scored a double as well as his partner from the offence,

Constantin Dinulescu Constantin Dinulescu (19 April 1931 – 1 February 2017) was a Romanian football forward who played for Romania in the 1960 European Nations' Cup. After he ended his playing career he became a referee who arbitrated 113 Divizia A matches during ...

. Over the course of ten seasons, Tufan appeared in 230 Divizia A matches, the highlights of this period being a fourth position while working with coach

Virgil Mărdărescu Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian football player and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 in Bucharest, Romani ...

at the end of the 1966–67 season and a personal record of 13 goals scored in the 1968–69 season, being the all-time Divizia A top-goalscorer of Farul with 62 goals. He made his last appearance in the competition on 13 May 1973 in a 0–0 with Petrolul Ploiești. Tufan ended his career by playing two seasons in

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 ...

SC Tulcea Fotbal Club Delta Tulcea, commonly known as Delta Tulcea, is a football club from Tulcea, Romania, originally founded in 1973, then refounded in 2005, 2013, and 2021. The club did not enroll in the 2024–25 Liga IV, 2024/25 Liga IV, and last pla ...

International career

Tufan played two games 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 ...

, both under the guidance of coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach at the 1970 World Cup and for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics ...

, making his debut on 14 May 1969 in a 1–0 away victory against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers. His second game for the national team was a friendly which ended 1–1 with

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Tufan was part of Romania's squad at the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

and for the participation in that tournament he was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Managerial career

After he ended his playing career, Tufan had a short

managerial Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

career at Granitul Babadag, helping the club earn promotion to

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tufan, Marin 1942 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards 1970 FIFA World Cup players Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players FCV Farul Constanța players FC Delta Tulcea players Romanian football managers Footballers from Constanța County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen