Emerich Jenei

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Emerich Jenei
Personal information
Full name	Emerich Jenei
Date of birth	March 22, 1937
Place of birth	Agriş, Arad, Romania
Nickname	Nea Imi
Playing position	defenisve midfielder (now retired)
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1955-1956 1957-1969 1969-1971	Flamura Roşie Arad Steaua Bucureşti Kayserispor	21 (2) 254 (7) ? (?)
National team2
1959-1964	Romania	12 (0)
Teams managed
1974-1978 1978-1979 1981-1982 1982-1984 1984-1986 1986-1990 1990-1991 1991 1993-1994 1996 1998-1999 2000	Steaua Bucureşti FC Bihor Oradea CS Târgovişte Steaua Bucureşti Steaua Bucureşti Romania Hungary Steaua Bucureşti Steaua Bucureşti Universitatea Craiova Steaua Bucureşti Romania
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of July 19, 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of July 19, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Emerich Jenei, an ethnic Hungarian, his name being written Jenei Imre in Hungarian (born March 22, 1937 in Agriş, near Arad, Romania), is a former Romanian football player and coach, now enjoying his retirement after a long and successful career. In May 1986 he won the European Cup as coach. He is renowned by many as the greatest football coach Romania ever produced, being a positive example for many other younger coaches, including Anghel Iordănescu and Victor Piţurcă.

[edit] Playing career

Jenei made his debut playing for Flamura Roşie Arad, now UT Arad, in the Romanian Liga I, before joining the squad of Steaua Bucureşti in 1957, aged 20. He played for Steaua until 1969, when he left Romania to play in Turkey for Kayserispor. In 1971 retired as player and became a coach.

During his career as a footballer, Jenei won 12 caps for Romania between 1959 and 1964.

The highlights of his career as a player were the Romanian football championship championship titles he won with Steaua Bucureşti in 1959 - 60, 1960 - 61 and 1967 - 68.

[edit] Coaching career

As a coach, Jenei had an even more successful career. Having returned from Turkey, he was named assistant coach at Steaua Bucureşti at the beginning of the 1972 - 73 season. Just one year later he was promoted to a head coaching position and finished 5th in Liga I, winning his first championship as coach in 1976, then finishing second in 1977. He won a new championship in 1978, but at the end of the season he was replaced by Gheorghe Constantin.

In 1978 - 79 he coached FC Bihor of Oradea, but the team finished the season in last place and Jenei was sacked.

In 1981 he took over at CS Târgovişte, and then the beginning of the 1982 - 83 season found him as coach of Steaua Bucureşti for a second stint. After only two years, in which failed to win the championship, he was sacked again, only to be brought back after four months.

In 1985 he won a new championship and in the following season led Steaua Bucureşti to victory in the European Cup final against FC Barcelona in May 1986.

In the summer of 1986 he was named co-head coach of the Romanian national football team, together with Mircea Lucescu, making his debut against Norway. Lucescu was sacked after a short while and Jenei became the only coach of Romania. He failed to qualify the team for Euro 88, but took the team to World Cup 1990. It was the first qualification of Romania at a World Cup in twenty years. Between August 1986 and June 1990, Jenei coached the team in 40 games, including two wins against Spain in 1987 and Italy in 1988.

After World Cup 1990 he was named head coach of Hungary but failed to produce notable results, being sacked after a short period of time. He returned to Romania in April 1991, when he was offered the job of Steaua Bucureşti's head coach for the fourth time, only to be sacked again in December of same year.

Jenei stayed away from the pitch for a while, but in August 1993 he began his fifth stint as coach of Steaua Bucureşti and won the championship one year later.

In 1996 he was named head coach of Universitatea Craiova but was sacked after only ten games. Two years later he returned to Steaua for his sixth and last stint there.

In 2000 he was called to coach Romania again. The team qualified for Euro 2000 but the previous coach - Victor Piţurcă - was sacked after a scandal which involved the team's best players, including Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi. At Euro 2000, Jenei took the team to the last eight, one of the best performances of the Romania national football team. During his second stint the national team played 11 games.

In June 2000 he decided to retire from coaching.

After 2000, Jenei was president of FC Bihor Oradea and also worked for the Romanian Football Federation. He is regularly consulted by the Romanian media for his opinion ahead of important football games for Romanian clubs, especially Steaua, or the Romanian national team.

[edit] References

• (English) Emerich Jenei's career as player, at RomanianSoccer.ro
• (Romanian) Emerich Jenei's career as coach, at Labtof.ro

Preceded by Giovanni Trapattoni

European Cup Winning Coach 1985-86

Succeeded by Artur Jorge

Preceded by Constantin Teaşcă	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1974-1978	Succeeded by Gheorghe Constantin
Preceded by Constantin Cernăianu	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1982-1984	Succeeded by Florin Halagian
Preceded by Florin Halagian	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1984-1986	Succeeded by Anghel Iordănescu
Preceded by Bujor Hălmageanu	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1991	Succeeded by Anghel Iordănescu
Preceded by Anghel Iordănescu	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1993-1994	Succeeded by Dumitru Dumitriu
Preceded by Mihai Stoichiţă	Steaua Bucharest Coach 1998-1999	Succeeded by Victor Piţurcă

	Romania squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Lung | 2 Rednic | 3 Klein | 4 Andone | 5 Rotariu | 6 G. Popescu | 7 Lăcătuş | 8 Sabău | 9 Cămătaru | 10 Hagi | 11 Lupu | 12 Stelea | 13 A. Popescu | 14 Răducioiu | 15 Mateuţ | 16 Timofte | 17 Dumitrescu | 18 Balint | 19 Săndoi | 20 Muzsnay | 21 Lupescu | 22 Liliac | Coach: Jenei