Mario Agiu (born 5 March 1956) 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 footballer who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He was for a short while

manager 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 ...

at CS Târgoviște in the 1983–84 Divizia A season.

Club career

Agiu was born on 5 March 1956 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 ...

, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1968 at local club, Steaua. He started his senior career at

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 ...

club,

Olimpia Satu Mare Fotbal Club Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare, commonly known as Olimpia Satu Mare, Olimpia MCMXXI or simply as Olimpia, is a Romanian professional football club from Satu Mare, Satu Mare County, Romania, founded on 5 May 1921, re-founded in 2010 and 20 ...

, making his debut in the competition on 3 November 1974 in a 2–0 away loss to

Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea was a Football (soccer), football club based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County, Vâlcea County, Romania. It was founded in 1946 and dissolved in 2004. It won one Romanian Cup, in 1972–73 Cupa României, 1973. History ...

. In the following season he returned to Steaua, helping the club win The Double, being used by coach Emerich Jenei in 29 league games in which he scored once and also played the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 win over CSU Galați from the Cupa României final. In the 1977–78 season, Agiu helped the club win a second title, netting one goal in the 33 matches that Jenei used him. In 1979 he won another

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 ...

trophy but coach Gheorghe Constantin did not use him in the 3–0 win over Sportul Studențesc București from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In his six seasons spell spent with '' The Military Men'' he also played eight matches in European competitions, most notably getting past Young Boys with a 8–2 aggregate win in the

1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1979–80 season was the 20th season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup, a association football, football tournament organised by UEFA for the cup winners from each of its member associations. The competition was won by Spa ...

. In 1981, Agiu went to play for three years at CS Târgoviște, being also the team's head coach for a few rounds in 1984. His next spell was at

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

for two seasons. In 1986 he accepted an offer from Oțelul Galați where he was wanted by one of his former coaches from Târgoviște, Constantin Rădulescu. There he would form a strong couple in the central defense with Viorel Anghelinei. He helped ''The Steelworkers'' earn a fourth place in the 1987–88 season. Thus they earned the right to play in the

1988–89 UEFA Cup The 1988–89 UEFA Cup was the 18th season of the UEFA Cup, the secondary club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at the Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy, and ...

where in the first round they defeated Juventus Torino with 1–0 in the first leg but lost the second with 5–0. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 9 April 1989 in a 1–0 home loss to Sportul Studențesc, Oțelul relegating at the end of the season, Agiu gaining a total of 336 matches with 31 goals netted in the Romanian top-league. After one more season spent with Oțelul in the

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 ...

, Agiu retired. After he ended his career, he described the period spent at Oțelul Galați as "the best years of my career".

International career

Between 1975 and 1979, Agiu made several appearances for Romania's under-21, under-23 and B squads.

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1975–76, 1977–78 *

: 1975–76, 1978–79

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agiu, Mario 1956 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players FCSB players FC Olimpia Satu Mare players FCM Târgoviște players ASC Oțelul Galați players FC Rapid București players Romanian football managers Footballers from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian sportsmen