Mihai Mocanu (24 February 1942 – 18 June 2009) was 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 football defender.

Club career

Mihai Mocanu was born on 24 February 1942 in

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

, Romania starting to play football in 1952 at local club, Locomotiva, afterwards going to play for Rafinăria Câmpina, returning to his hometown at Electrica where he finished his junior career, starting his senior career in Divizia B, playing for two seasons at SNM Constanța, afterwards going for one season at fellow Divizia B club, Chimia Făgăraș. He went to play for Petrolul Ploiești, making 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 25 August 1963 in a 2–1 away loss in front of UTA Arad, making a total of 201 appearances with six goals scored in the competition over the course of nine seasons in which he also helped the '' Yellow Wolves'' win the 1965–66 Divizia A, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 26 matches. He played three games for Petrolul in the first round of the 1966–67 European Cup against

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which include a 3–1 victory, however they did not manage to qualify to the next round and he also appeared in six games in which he scored one goal in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

. After he made his last Divizia A appearance for Petrolul on 12 December 1971 in a 1–0 home loss against Jiul Petroșani, Mocanu went to play in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

at Omonia Nicosia for two seasons with fellow Romanian, Constantin Frățilă, winning the title and the cup in 1974. He returned in Romania, playing another two seasons for Petrolul, this time in Divizia B, retiring in 1976.

International career

Mocanu played 31 games at international level of

, making his debut on 1 June 1966 under coach Ilie Oană in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He went on to play four games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers and two at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, being used at the final tournament by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches as

did not advance to the next stage and had a appreciated performance in the 3–2 loss against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in the duel with his direct opponent, Jairzinho. He made three appearances at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, including his last appearance which took place on 22 September 1971 in a 4–0 away victory against

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. For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Mocanu 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

Mocanu coached Petrolul Ploiești for one year in Divizia B, also working at the center of children and juniors of the club, he also coached Steaua Mizil, Metalul Plopeni and Conpet Ploiești from 1991 until 2005, all of them in the Romanian lower leagues.

Personal life and death

Mocanu's son was also a footballer, playing for a while at Conpet Ploiești with his father as coach. He received the Honorary Citizen of Ploiești title. In July 2006, part of Mocanu's right leg was amputated after he was diagnosed with

ischemia Ischemia or ischaemia is a restriction in blood supply to any tissue, muscle group, or organ of the body, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed for cellular metabolism (to keep tissue alive). Ischemia is generally caused by problems ...

. He died on 18 June 2009, at the age of 67.

Honours

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1965–66 Omonia Nicosia * Cypriot League: 1973–74 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 1973–74

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mocanu, Mihai 1942 births 2009 deaths Romanian men's footballers Liga I players Liga II players Cypriot First Division players FC Petrolul Ploiești players AC Omonia players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Constanța Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Romanian football managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers CSO Plopeni managers 20th-century Romanian sportsmen