Mircea Constantinescu (born 25 February 1945) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Politehnica Iași,

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

and SC Bacău.

Club career

Mircea Constantinescu was born on 25 February 1945 in Crăiești,

, and made 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 20 October 1963, playing for Politehnica Iași in a 5–3 away loss against Progresul București. He spent seven seasons at Politehnica, a period in which the club had a relegation to

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 ...

, but he stayed with the team, helping it gain promotion back to the first league after one season. In 1970 he went to play for

, winning the title in his first season spent at the club, coaches

Nicolae Dumitru Nicolae Dumitru (born 21 September 1949) is a Romanian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were ...

and

Traian Ionescu Traian Ionescu (17 July 1923 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and coach. Club career Ionescu was born on 17 July 1923 in Văleni, Argeș County, Romania and started to play junior level football at age 13 at TC Târgoviș ...

giving him 27 appearances, also reaching the

1971 Cupa României final * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

where he played all the minutes in the 3–2 loss with

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Steaua București. Constantinescu won two more titles with '' The Red Dogs'', in the first he worked with coach

Ion Nunweiller Ion Nunweiller (9 January 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a Romanian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender and manager. Club career File:Lică Nunweiller, Radu Nunweiller, Ion Nunweiller 1963.jpg, left, 270px, ...

who used him in 10 games and at the second he played 32 matches under the guidance of Dumitru. After seven seasons spent with '' The Red Dogs'' in which he also appeared in 11 games in European competitions (including four matches 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 ...

), Constantinescu ended his career by spending one season at SC Bacău, making his last Divizia A appearance on 26 June 1977 in a 2–0 home victory against Sportul Studențesc București, having a total of 287 matches played in the competition.

International career

Constantinescu played two friendly matches for

, making his debut under coach

Bazil Marian Bazil Marian (7 November 1922 – 19 January 2008) was a Romanian professional footballer and coach. Club career Bazil Marian nicknamed "Bombardierul" (The Bomber) because of his powerful shots was born on 7 November 1922 in Uioara de Sus, Rom ...

in a 1–1 against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, which took place in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Estadio Gran Parque Central The Estadio Gran Parque Central is the stadium of Club Nacional de Football. It is located in Montevideo, Uruguay, near Nacional headquarters (exactly between the streets Carlos Anaya, Jaime Cibils, General Urquiza and Comandante Braga), in the L ...

. His second game was a 2–1 away victory against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Refereeing career

After he retired from playing football, Constantinescu became a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, arbitrating matches in Romania's top-league

Honours

Politehnica Iași *

: 1967–68 Dinamo București *

: 1970–71,

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, 1974–75 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1970–71

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantinescu, Mircea 1945 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players Liga II players FC Politehnica Iași (1945) players FC Dinamo București players FCM Bacău players Romanian football referees Footballers from Bacău County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen