Marcel Pigulea (born 24 May 1943) is a Romanian former football player and manager.[2]

Marcel Pigulea
Personal information
Date of birth (1943-05-24) 24 May 1943 (age 81)
Place of birth Albulești, Romania
Position(s) Right back
Youth career
1955–1959 Progresul Strehaia
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1959–1961 Progresul Strehaia
1961–1963 Dunărea Giurgiu
1963–1964 Flacăra Roșie București
1964–1965 Metalul București
1965–1966 Dinamo București 0 (0)
1966–1968 Politehnica București[a] 14 (3)
1968–1974 Argeș Pitești 143 (2)
1974–1976 FCM Reșița 39 (0)
Total 196 (5)
Managerial career
1976–1981 Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea
1981–1982 Politehnica Timișoara
1982–1984 Romania U18
1984–1985 Dunărea Galați
1985–1986 Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea
1986 Gloria Buzău
1986–1987 UTA Arad
1992–1995 Romania U18
1996–1997 Hassania Agadir
1998–1999 Algeria
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

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Marcel Pigulea was born on 24 May 1943 in Albulești, starting to play junior level football in 1955 at Progresul Strehaia, after a while starting to play for the senior squad.[1][3][4][5] In 1961 he went for two years at Dunărea Giurgiu, followed by one season at Flacăra Roșie București and another at Metalul București, all of them being in the lower leagues of Romania.[1][3][4][5] In 1965 he signed with Divizia A club, Dinamo București for which he did not play, one year later returning to Divizia B football at Politehnica București where he was teammate with Mircea Lucescu.[1][3][4][5][6]

In 1968, Pigulea went to play for Argeș Pitești where on 8 September coach Ion Bălănescu gave him his Divizia A debut in a 2–1 away loss in front of Petrolul Ploiești.[1][3][4][5] In the 1971–72 season he helped Argeș win the first title in its history, coaches Titus Ozon and Florin Halagian giving him 27 appearances.[1][3][4][7] Afterwards he played four games in the 1972–73 European Cup, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid but lost the second leg with 3–1.[1][8] Years later in an interview for the Adevărul newspaper he talked about the victory with the Spaniards:"It was an incredible victory for us and for Romanian football. Even now I still have the newspapers somewhere in the attic with the articles written in October 1972 about our victory against Real Madrid. We hoped, we believed, but we did not imagine that we would beat Real. The whole team played very well, and Dobrin was in top form."[9] In his last season at Argeș, he played in both legs of the 6–2 loss on aggregate with Fenerbahçe from the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup.[1][10]

Pigulea ended his playing career after spending two seasons at Divizia A club FCM Reșița, having a total of 182 matches with two goals scored in the competition.[1][3][4][5]

Managerial career

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Marcel Pigulea started coaching in 1976 at Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea which he helped promote to the first league two years later.[3][4][5][11] In 1981 he left Râmnicu Vâlcea to coach Politehnica Timișoara for one year.[3][4][5][11] Afterwards he coached Romania's under-18 national team, helping it qualify to the 1983 European Under-18 Championship, teaching and forming players like Gheorghe Hagi, Marius Lăcătuș, Gheorghe Mihali, Dumitru Stângaciu, Dorin Mateuț, Zsolt Muzsnay or Emil Săndoi.[3][4][5][11][12] Since 1985 he coached several clubs like Dunărea Galați, a second spell at Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea, Gloria Buzău and UTA Arad.[3][4][5][11][13] Then in the early 1990s he started coaching Romania's under-18 side once again, this time promoting players like Ionuț Luțu, Mugur Bolohan, Cristian Ciocoiu or Constantin Schumacher.[3][4][5] In 1996 he started working abroad, firstly at Moroccan side Hassania Agadir, then from 1998 until 1999 at Algeria's national team.[3][4][5][11][14] In 1999 he founded the private school "Clubul Pro Luceafărul" where players like Răzvan Marin, Ianis Hagi or Nicolas Popescu took their first steps in football.[3][4][11][15]

Honours

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Player

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Argeș Pitești

Manager

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Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea

Notes

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  1. ^ The statistics for the 1966–67 Divizia B season are unavailable.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Marcel Pigulea at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. ^ Marcel Pigulea at WorldFootball.net
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Marcel Pigulea" (in Romanian). fcarges1953.ro. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Să nu-l uităm pe fostul campion alb-violet Marcel Pigulea!" [Let's not forget the former white-purple champion Marcel Pigulea!] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Marcel Pigulea a împlinit 81 de ani! FC Argeș nu l-a uitat" [Marcel Pigulea turned 81 years old! FC Argeș did not forget him] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Dinamo Bucuresti in 1965–66". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Luați la preț de matineu!" [Take at matinee price!] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
    "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Singura echipă românească de fotbal care a învins trei mari cluburi din Spania. Marele Dobrin a fost cheia succeselor" [The only Romanian football team that has defeated three major clubs in Spain. The great Dobrin was the key to success] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
    "Marcel Pigulea. Champions League 1972/1973". WorldFootball. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Cum putea Dobrin, "Prințul din Trivale", să ajungă rege la Real Madrid" [How could Dobrin, the "Prince of Trivale", become king at Real Madrid] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  10. ^ "FC Argeș – Fenerbahce 1-1 (Cupa UEFA – 3 octombrie 1973)" [FC Argeș – Fenerbahce 1-1 (Cupa UEFA – 3 October 1973)] (in Romanian). Tikitaka.ro. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
    "Ion Roșu. UEFA Cup 1973/1974". WorldFootball. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Antrenorul care i-a antrenat pe Gică și Ianis dezvăluie asemănările dintre cei doi: "Ambițioși, individualiști și căpoși"" [The coach who trained Gică and Ianis reveals the similarities between the two: "Ambitious, individualistic and stubborn"] (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Marcel Pigulea:"Hagi a fost în primii jucători ai lumii"" [Marcel Pigulea:"Hagi was among the first players in the world"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Cum se făceau blaturi în fotbal în perioada comunistă. Sandu Gaica: "UTA nu avea sprijinul partidului comunist, cum se întâmpla la Timișoara, Oradea sau Petroșani!"" [How were the tops made in football during the communist period. Sandu Gaica: "UTA did not have the support of the communist party, as happened in Timișoara, Oradea or Petroșani!"] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Algeria National Team Coaches". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  15. ^ "De la Gică Hagi și Popescu la Ianis Hagi și Răzvan Marin. Marcel Pigulea povestește ce au în comun "Regele" şi fiul său" [From Gică Hagi and Popescu to Ianis Hagi and Răzvan Marin. Marcel Pigulea tells what the "King" and his son have in common] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
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