Costel Câmpeanu


Costel Câmpeanu is a former Romanian football player and coach.

Playing career

Câmpeanu was born on 14 May 1965 in Bacău and began playing football in the 1986–87 Divizia C season at Viitorul Gheorgheni. Afterwards he went to play for his hometown team, SC Bacău where on 26 August 1987 he made his Divizia A debut under coach Nicolae Vătafu in a 4–2 away loss to Argeș Pitești. After two years he went to play for Dinamo București where in his first season he helped the club win The Double, being used by coach Mircea Lucescu in 10 league games, as the team's first-choice goalkeeper was Bogdan Stelea. In the 1991–92 season, Dinamo won another title, but Câmpeanu played only one game in the league, having to leave after the first half of the season to play for Gloria Bistrița, as he had a conflict with coach Florin Halagian. After one year spent at Gloria, he went for half a year to Progresul București, then moved for one year at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.
In 1994 he went to play again for Gloria, spending a total of 11 seasons with the club this time, obtaining runner-up positions in the 1994 Supercupa României and the 1995–96 Cupa României. The team also earned some performances in European competitions such as a 2–1 win over Real Zaragoza in the 1994–95 Cup Winners' Cup, a 1–1 draw against Gabriel Batistuta's Fiorentina in the 1996–97 Cup Winners' Cup and another 1–1 draw against Brescia in the 2003 Intertoto Cup. During his period spent with The Blue Vampires, the team was heavily involved in match fixing under the club's influential president Jean Pădureanu, Câmpeanu having to intentionally make mistakes to concede goals, years later stating in interviews that he regrets doing so.
In 1999, he returned for a short spell at Ceahlăul where the head coach was Viorel Hizo, whom he had known from their time together at Dinamo, where Hizo was Halagian's assistant coach. Câmpeanu played in Ceahlăul's 1999 Intertoto Cup campaign which included a 1–1 draw against Juventus. Câmpeanu's last spell as a player was at Aerostar Bacău in the 2005–06 Divizia C season when he was 40 years old. Throughout his career he earned a total of 470 Divizia A appearances and 25 in European competitions, being nicknamed Burebista, after the first king of Dacia because of his career longevity. On 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him in a first XI of best Romanian players who never played for Romania's national team.

Coaching career

Câmpeanu coached Aerostar Bacău, Pambac Bacău and FCM Onești in the Romanian lower leagues.

Honours

Player

Dinamo București
Gloria Bistrița