10 Facts About Viorel Mateianu

Viorel Mateianu was a Romanian football player and coach.

In 1957, during a football tournament held in San Sebastian, Spain in which he participated with one of Romania's youth teams, Viorel Mateianu had an offer to play for Real Madrid, which he refused, not wanting to risk to never see his parents again, as he could have not been allowed to return to the country by the communist regime.

Viorel Mateianu returned to Progresul Bucuresti where he spent 8 seasons, after which he was allowed by the communist authorities to play in Western Europe, going in West Germany at TUS Wannsee Berlin and Alemannia Aachen where he ended his playing career.

Viorel Mateianu played six games and scored two goals at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Augustin Botescu at the 1960 European Nations' Cup quarter-finals where they were defeated by Czechoslovakia, who advanced to the final tournament.

Viorel Mateianu went to coach Divizia B team Baia Mare in 1976 and with a team he formed mostly with local players from Maramures County, Mateianu managed to earn a promotion in Divizia A, where the team finished twice on the 4th position.

Viorel Mateianu believed that the best football practice for the footballers was to play football, that is why while the rest of the clubs used to organize long cantonments before the games and training sessions in the mountains during the preparation period from the season brakes, he used to put his team to play many friendly games.

Mircea Lucescu was very impressed by Viorel Mateianu's working methods, coming to study his training sessions, sometimes asking Viorel Mateianu to extend his training sessions so he can see more of his methods, he went to his home where they would talk all night about football and draw tactical game schemes together.

In November 1988, Viorel Mateianu suffered a stroke after which he retired from coaching, many people believing that the stress caused by the game with Steaua was the cause of it, but his wife, Mihaela dismissed that idea claiming that Viorel Mateianu had previously suffered a minor stroke in 1983.

Viorel Mateianu suffered another stroke in 1994 after which he was unable to move, staying in home until his death took place on 25 November 1997.

Viorel Mateianu has a total of 176 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 70 victories, 25 draws and 81 losses.