Ovidiu Stîngă

Ovidiu Stîngă

Personal information
Date of birth	(1972-12-05) 5 December 1972
Place of birth	Craiova, Romania
Height
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1995	Universitatea Craiova	107	(29)
1990–1991	→ IELIF Craiova (loan)	?	(?)
1995–1996	Salamanca	50	(14)
1996–2001	PSV Eindhoven	78	(13)
2001–2002	Dinamo București	18	(0)
2002–2004	Universitatea Craiova	35	(5)
2004–2005	Helmond Sport	19	(1)
2005–2007	Universitatea Craiova	32	(5)
Total		309	(67)
International career
1993–1998	Romania	24	(0)
Managerial career
2006	Universitatea Craiova
2009–2010	PSV Eindhoven (Youth)
2010–2011	Romania U-18
2011–2012	Romania U-19
2013–2014	CS Universitatea Craiova
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ovidiu Stîngă (born 5 December 1972 in Craiova) is a retired Romanian football player and current manager.

Club career

He began his football career at Viitorul Craiova. In 1990, he made his league debut for Universitatea Craiova at the age of 17, in a match against Corvinul Hunedoara. By the end of the season he was loaned to Jiul IELIF Craiova, and returned in the summer of 1991 to U'Craiova. In the 1992–93 season he was the team's best player and took third place in the league and his side won the Romanian Cup.

In summer 1995, he went abroad to Spain at UD Salamanca. He debuted in Primera División on 3 September against Espanyol Barcelona winning 3–1. At Salamanca he scored 11 goals, being the second leading scorer in the team, but the club finished last and were relegated to Segunda División.

In 1996, Stîngă joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. In his first season in the Eredivisie, he played only seven matches. In the 1997–98 season, he was one of the key players for PSV as they finished runners-up in the Dutch Championship. In 1998, he suffered a serious injury, which resulted a year break in the 1998–99 season and appeared once on the pitch. In 2000 and 2001, with PSV Stîngă won two consecutive Dutch Championship titles as well the Dutch Super Cup.

In summer of 2001 he returned to Romania signing with Dinamo Bucharest with whom he won league title. The next two seasons he spent at U.Craiova, returning after 7 years. He was loaned for the 2004–05 season to the Dutch Eerste Divisie side Helmond Sport. In 2006 he was player and manager for U'Craiova in the Romanian second division. He helped his team to get promoted in the first league in the 2006–07 season, before ending his career.

National career

Stîngă made his debut on 31 January 1993 in a friendly game against Ecuador played in Guayaquil. In 1994, he was named in Romania's squad for the World Cup in the United States, but didn't play any game. In 1996, he was called by Anghel Iordănescu at the European Championship in England, where he played one match against Spain. He also represented his country at World Cup 1998 in France.

Honours

Club

Universitatea Craiova

• Romanian Cup: 1992–93

PSV Eindhoven

• Dutch League: 1996–97, 1999–00
• Dutch Supercup: 1997, 1998, 2000

Dinamo București

• Romanian League: 2001–02

External links

• Profile at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile at BDFutbol.com