Gheorghe Mulțescu (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈɡe̯orɡemulˈtsesku]; 13 November 1951 – 15 September 2024) was a Romanian professionalfootball manager and player.
Mulțescu was born on 13 November 1951 inBotoroaga,Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1963 atSteaua București.[3][4] When it was time for him to start his senior career, Steaua's coachȘtefan Kovács was considering promoting him to the first team.[4] However, Kovács left to coachAjax Amsterdam in 1971.[4] His replacement,Gheorghe Constantin, chose not to bring Mulțescu to the senior squad.[4]
Mulțescu was transferred toDinamo București in 1979 where for several years he would form a successful offensive trio withIonel Augustin andCostel Orac, together being called "AMO" by the fans, a nickname inspired by the initials of their family names.[9][13] From 1982 to 1984, he earned three consecutive Divizia A titles.[3][9][14][15] In the first one, he played 26 matches under coachValentin Stănescu, scoring nine goals.[3][5][14] In the following two seasons, he worked with coachNicolae Dumitru who gave him 31 appearances in which he scored six goals in the first, and then 23 games with eight goals netted in the second.[3][5][14] Mulțescu also won twoCupa României with Dinamo.[3][9] He was used the entire match by Stănescu in the 3–2 victory overFC Baia Mare in the1982 final, but did not play in the win against Steaua in the1984 final.[3][9][16] Over the years he would score two goals in thederby against Steaua in a draw and a victory in the league.[17] Mulțescu played 20 games in which he scored nine goals in European competitions forThe Red Dogs, helping the team eliminateInter Milan in the1981–82 UEFA Cup edition.[9][18] He also appeared in seven matches in the1983–84 European Cup campaign, scoring one goal againstKuusysi Lahti and two in both legs of the 5–3 aggregate victory against title holdersHamburg, the first one being a spectacular 40-meter shot, reaching the semi-finals where they were defeated byLiverpool.[3][5][9][15][19]
In 1985, Mulțescu returned to Jiul Petroșani, this time as a player-coach, managing to gain promotion fromDivizia B to Divizia A.[3][4][5][20][21] He spent his last season as a player in Divizia A atCSM Suceava, making his last appearance on 17 December 1987 in a 0–0 draw againstPetrolul Ploiești, having a total of 407 matches played with 111 goals scored in the competition.[3][5][9] In the final years of his career he worked as a player-coach forAutobuzul București,UTA Arad,Rapid București andPoiana Câmpina in the Romanian lower leagues.[3][4][5][9][22]
Mulțescu played 12 matches and scored two goals forRomania (16/3 including Romania's Olympic team games), making his debut on 25 September 1974 under coachValentin Stănescu in a 0–0 friendly draw againstBulgaria.[1][2][24]
He played another two games and scored once against Bulgaria, as they lost the1973–76 Balkan Cup final on theaway goals rule after 3–3 on aggregate.[1][9] He made two appearances and scored one goal in a 2–0 victory againstCyprus during theEuro 1980 qualifiers.[1][9] Mulțescu's last game for the national team was a 1–0 away victory against Cyprus in the successfulEuro 1984 qualifiers.[1]
Mulțescu managed several clubs, most of which were from Romania, where he was nicknamedSmurdul (English:TheSMURD) after the Romanian emergency rescue service, because of his capacity for taking charge of teams who are going through a difficult time in mid-season and taking them on a points-winning path, especially those which were fighting to avoid relegation.[5][9][15][20][25] In 1993 he led Romania's B squad in theNehru Cup, reaching the final where they lost with 2–0 toNorth Korea.[26] Mulțescu coached 13 teams inDivizia A, at some, he had several terms, including six periods atDinamo, totaling 313 matches in the competition (112 victories, 74 draws, 127 losses).[5][15][20][27] He also coached outside of Romania, in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, where his most successful period was his first term atSamsunspor from 1993 until 1997.[5][9][15][28][29] There, he finished one season in fifth place and won the only trophy of his managerial career, the1993–94 Balkans Cup.[9][20][28] During that Samsunpor spell, Mulțescu brought several Romanian players to the club such asBogdan Stelea,Daniel Timofte,Marius Cheregi,Ovidiu Hanganu,Silvian Dobre and Luca Constantin.[30]
His son,Cătălin, was agoalkeeper, playing at variousLiga I andLiga II clubs throughout his career.[31] After he retired from professional football, he became a goalkeeping coach.[31]
Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titledGigi Mulțescu, fotbalistul-nepereche(Gigi Mulțescu, the unpaired footballer), which was released in 2001.[32]
Mulțescu died on 15 September 2024 in theFloreasca Hospital inBucharest, at the age of 72.[9][33] Over 200 people participated at his funeral, being buried with military honors in the "Reînvierea" Cemetery in theColentina neighborhood of Bucharest.[34]
Bulgaria
Cyprus
