Cosmin Olăroiu

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Cosmin Olăroiu
Personal information
Full name	Aurelian Cosmin Olăroiu
Date of birth	June 10, 1969 (1969-06-10) (age 38)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Playing position	centre back
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-95 1995-97 1997-00 2000	Gloria Buzău MECON Bucharest Girueta Bucharest FC Naţional Bucharest Universitatea Craiova Suwon Samsung Bluewings JEF United Ichihara Chiba	? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 80 (8) 37 (2) 56 (4) 10 (0)
Teams managed
2000-2002 2002 2003-2004 2005 2006 -2007 2007 -	FC Naţional Bucharest Steaua Bucharest FC Naţional Bucharest FCU Politehnica Timişoara Steaua Bucharest Al-Hilal
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Aurelian Cosmin Olăroiu (born June 10, 1969 in Bucharest, Romania) is a former Romanian football player and current head coach of Al-Hilal.

[edit] Club career

A rather mediocre player, Olăroiu's best-known clubs he played for are Universitatea Craiova and FC Naţional Bucharest. However, he also played with some success in Korea for Suwon Samsung Bluewings and helped the team to win the 2 times of championship trophy (1998, 1999) in their history.

[edit] Coaching career

At the age of only 37, Olăroiu managed some impressive results in his very short coaching career, winning the Romanian football championship and the Romanian Supercup with Steaua Bucharest, both in 2006, and qualifying the team in the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in the same year. He is very much loved by Steaua's owner, Gigi Becali, who recently said that "Should Olăroiu wish, he can stay at Steaua 100 years."

He started his coaching career in 2000 at FC Naţional Bucharest, finishing a respectable 7th in his first season. During the following season, FC Naţional became a challenger to the Romanian football championship title. However they lost the leader position in the last game of the season, against Universitatea Craiova.

In 2002 Olăroiu signs for Steaua Bucharest but resists only seven games, giving the team the poorest championship start in their history. At the time of his resignation there were voices that said that Olăroiu managed results with FC Naţional because there was no pressure -- FC Naţional being renowned as a team with only few, but devoted supporters -- while at Steaua pressure is everywhere. It has been also told that Olăroiu was sacked by the club president Viorel Păunescu as advised by Victor Piţurcă, head coach before 2002 and general manager at that time, who wanted to return to head-coaching.

After leaving Steaua, Olăroiu returns to FC Naţional, this time as a general manager. In 2003 he is named head coach again, replacing Walter Zenga.

In the winter of 2004 a very controversial Romanian businessman, Marian Iancu buys FCU Politehnica Timişoara, and, at his request, Olăroiu is signed head coach. Olăroiu did not go emptyhanded at Timişoara but together with the best players from FC Naţional. He managed some interesting results, finishing fourth in Divizia A, but in November 2005 was sacked by the same Iancu, who said about his coach that he is not capable of winning championships, being rather good for third and fourth places.

Just days after being sacked from Timişoara, where he left the team fourth in the league, Olăroiu is signed by Gigi Becali, the new president, and this time owner, of Steaua Bucharest, to replace Oleg Protasov.

Olăroiu's first championship title as coach came in June 2006 and then one month later his team also won the Romanian Supercup. In May 2006, Steaua Bucharest coached by Olăroiu reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup.

In 2007 Olăroiu signed for Al-Hilal, supposedly drawn by the more attractive financial aspects that are typical of Saudi football. In 2008 he again proved his coaching worth,reaching the U 23 cup final, winning the Crown prince cup and the league title with Al-Hilal.

[edit] External links

• Cosmin Olăroiu's profile @ UEFA.com

Preceded by Victor Piţurcă	Steaua Bucharest Coach 2002	Succeeded by Ştefan Iovan
Preceded by Oleg Protasov	Steaua Bucharest Coach 2006-2007	Succeeded by Gheorghe Hagi

v • d • e Al-Hilal – current squad 1 Al-Deayea • 2 Al-Abdulsalam • 3 Tavares • 4 Al-Zori • 5 Al-Ghanam • 6 Aziz • 7 Al-Kalthem • 10 Al-Shalhoub • 11 Al-Temyat • 12 Al-Thyab • 13 Al-Ghamdi • 14 El-Taib • 15 Al-Angri • 16 Al-Hlayel • 17 Al-Mofarij • 18 Al-Swalieh • 19 Al-Khathran • 20 Al-Qahtani • 21 Al-Bargan • 22 Lelo • 23 Al-Kharashi • 24 Nami • 25 Al-Marshadi • 26 Al-Anbar • 27 Al-Mori • 28 Al-Mobarak • 29 Khirat • 32 Al-Yass • 34 Al-Beshi • 34 Al-Fredi • 41 Shraheali • 44 Al-Shamri • Coach: Olăroiu

v • d • e FC Steaua Bucureşti – Managers Braun-Bogdan (1948) • Vâlcov (1948–49) • Ronnay (1950) • Gh. Popescu (1951–53) • Ronnay (1953–54) • Savu (1954–55) • Dobay (1956) • Savu (1958) • Niculescu (1958) • Gh. Popescu (1958–60) • Onisie (1960–61) • Mladin (1961) • Gh. Popescu (1962) • Onisie (1962–63) • Ola (1963–64) • Savu (1964–67) • Kovács (1967–70) • Onisie (1970–71) • Stănescu (1971–72) • Constantin (1972-73) • Teaşcă (1974–75) • Jenei (1975–78) • Constantin (1978–81) • Ionescu (1981) • Cernăianu (1981–83) • Jenei (1983–84) • Halagian (1984) • Jenei (1984–86) • Iordănescu (1986–90) • Ştefănescu (1990) • Hălmageanu (1991) • Jenei (1991) • Piţurcă (1992) • Iordănescu (1992–93) • Jenei (1993–94) • Dumitriu (1994–97) • Stoichiţă (1997–98) • Jenei (1998–2000) • Piţurcă (2000–02) • Olăroiu (2002) • Piţurcă (2002–04) • Zenga (2004–05) • Dumitriu (2005) • Protasov (2005) • Olăroiu (2006–07) • Hagi (2007) • Pedrazzini (2007) • Lăcătuş (2007–)