Ovidiu Stîngă

Ovidiu Stîngă (born 5 December 1972) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently in charge of Al Sadd U19.

Ovidiu Stîngă

Personal information
Date of birth	(1972-12-05) 5 December 1972
Place of birth	Craiova, Romania
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Central midfielder
Team information
Current team	Al Sadd U19 (head coach)
Youth career
0000–1990	Viitorul Craiova
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1994	Universitatea Craiova	106	(29)
1991	→ Jiul IELIF Craiova (loan)	18	(7)
1995–1996	Salamanca	50	(14)
1997–2001	PSV	52	(7)
2001–2002	Dinamo București	18	(0)
2002–2007	Universitatea Craiova	67	(10)
2004–2005	→ Helmond Sport (loan)	19	(1)
Total		312	(61)
International career
1992–1993	Romania U21	3	(0)
1993–1999	Romania	24	(0)
Managerial career
2005–2006	Universitatea Craiova (player/coach)
2007	Universitatea Craiova (caretaker)
2009–2010	PSV Eindhoven (youth)
2010–2011	Romania U18
2011–2012	Romania U19
2013–2014	CS Universitatea Craiova
2015–2020	PSV Women (assistant)
2020–2021	FC U Craiova
2021–	Al Sadd U19
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Born in Craiova, Stîngă began his football career at Viitorul Craiova. In 1990, he made his league debut for Universitatea Craiova at the age of 17, in a match against Corvinul Hunedoara. By the end of the season he was loaned to Jiul IELIF Craiova, and returned in the summer of 1991 to U Craiova. In the 1992–93 season he was the team's best player and took third place in the league and his side won the Cupa României.

In summer 1995, he went abroad to Spain at UD Salamanca. He debuted in Primera División on 3 September against Espanyol winning 3–1. At Salamanca he scored 11 goals, being the second leading scorer in the team, but the club finished last and were relegated to Segunda División.

In 1996, Stîngă joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. In his first season in the Eredivisie, he played only seven matches. In the 1997–98 season, he was one of the key players for PSV as they finished runners-up in the Dutch Championship. In 1998, he suffered a serious injury, which resulted a year break in the 1998–99 season and appeared once on the pitch. In 2000 and 2001, with PSV Stîngă won two consecutive Dutch Championship titles as well the Dutch Super Cup.

In summer of 2001 he returned to Romania signing with Dinamo București with whom he won league title. The next two seasons he spent at Universitatea Craiova, returning after 7 years. He was loaned for the 2004–05 season to the Dutch Eerste Divisie side Helmond Sport. In 2006, he was player and manager for Universitatea Craiova in the Romanian second division. He helped his team to get promoted in the first league in the 2006–07 season, before ending his career.

International career

Stîngă made his debut on 31 January 1993 in a friendly game against Ecuador played in Guayaquil. In 1994, he was named in Romania's squad for the World Cup in the United States, but didn't play any game. In 1996, he was called by Anghel Iordănescu at the European Championship in England, where he played one match against Spain. He also represented his country at World Cup 1998 in France.

International stats

Romania
Year	Apps	Goals
1993	6	0
1994	3	0
1995	2	0
1996	5	0
1997	0	0
1998	6	0
1999	2	0
Total	24	0

Honours

Player

Jiul IELIF Craiova

• Divizia C: 1990–91

Universitatea Craiova

• Divizia B: 2005–06
• Cupa României: 1992–93

PSV

• Eredivisie: 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2000–01
• KNVB Cup runner-up: 1997–98, 2000–01
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 2001–02
• Cupa României runner-up: 2001–02
• Supercupa României runner-up: 2001

Coach

Universitatea Craiova

• Liga II: 2005–06

External links

• Ovidiu Stîngă at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ovidiu Stîngă at BDFutbol