Florentin Petre


Florentin Petre is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently assistant coach at Liga I club [FC FC Dinamo București|Dinamo București|Dinamo București].

Club career

Youth career

Petre was born on 15 January 1976 in Bucharest, Romania. He grew up and began playing football in the town of Popești-Leordeni, then in 1988 he moved to the youth center of Victoria București. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Victoria was dissolved, and Petre was taken by coach Ionuț Chirilă to the youth center of Dinamo București.

Dinamo București and UTA Arad

He started his senior career at Dinamo, playing his first Divizia A match on 15 October 1994 under coach Ion Moldovan in a 2–0 victory over Universitatea Cluj where he opened the score in the third minute. He was loaned to UTA Arad in the second half of that season, playing eight league matches in which he scored one goal.
Subsequently, Petre came back to Dinamo, where over the years he would become the team's captain and won three Divizia A titles. The first championship was won in the 1999–2000 season, being used by coach Cornel Dinu in 22 league matches in which he scored seven goals. One of these goals was netted in a 3–2 derby win against Steaua București that mathematically secured the title. In 2000, Petre contracted hepatitis C and in 2001 he had an accident while fishing in the Danube Delta when he touched an electricity wire with his fishing rod and almost lost his life. These events put him on the sideline for almost two seasons, but he still managed to help win the 2001–02 title by scoring one goal in 10 appearances under coaches Dinu and Marin Ion. His hepatitis problem also made Spanish club Alavés give up on his transfer even though he had a precontract signed with them. He won his third title with Dinamo in the 2003–04 season, playing 24 games and scoring four goals under coach Ioan Andone, including a hat-trick in a 7–3 win over FCM Bacău. His performances in 2004 earned him the fifth place in the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.
During these years, Petre also helped the club win five Cupa României, playing in four of the finals. In 2005, he captained the team under coach Andone for the full 90 minutes in the 3–2 victory against rivals Steaua which helped the club earn its first Supercupa României. Petre also represented The Red Dogs in European competitions, playing 32 games in which he scored six goals. In the 2003–04 UEFA Cup, he helped the team get past Liepājas Metalurgs against whom he scored a double and Shakhtar Donetsk. In the 2005–06 edition of the same competition, they eliminated Everton with a historical 5–2 victory on aggregate in which he scored a goal, reaching the group stage.

CSKA Sofia

Petre left Dinamo in July 2006 and signed a three-year contract with Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia. In his first season spent in Bulgaria, Petre played alongside fellow Romanians Eugen Trică and Alexandru Pițurcă. His first performance was playing the entire match under coach Plamen Markov in the conquest of the 2006 Bulgarian Supercup, following a penalty shoot-out victory against rivals Levski Sofia in which Petre netted the final spot kick. He made his debut in the Bulgarian league on 5 August 2006 in a 2–0 away victory against Cherno More Varna. He scored his first goal in the competition on 9 September when he opened the score in a 3–1 away win over Rilski Sportist Samokov.
In the following season, Petre played 24 games and scored 11 goals under coach Stoycho Mladenov, helping CSKA win undefeated the 31st title in the club's history. With these goals, he was the team's second top-scorer, having two fewer than Nei, and in the last round he netted a hat-trick in the 3–0 win against Chernomorets Burgas.

Terek Grozny

In 2008, Petre joined compatriots Daniel Pancu and Andrei Mărgăritescu in Russia at Terek Grozny, which paid €300,000 for his transfer. He made his Russian Premier League debut on 13 July 2008 when coach Vyacheslav Hroznyi used him the entire match in a 0–0 draw against FC Moscow. He scored his first goal on 23 August in a 2–1 home win over Lokomotiv Moscow. On 9 November he netted a brace in a 3–1 away win over champions Rubin Kazan. In the next season, Petre scored two goals in victories against Dynamo Moscow and Tom Tomsk. He played a total of 36 matches and scored five goals in the Russian league.

Return to CSKA Sofia

In January 2010, Petre returned to CSKA Sofia for half a year, alongside Romanians Daniel Pancu and coach Ioan Andone. His only league goal scored during this second spell was in a 4–1 home victory against Sportist Svoge. In both periods spent with The Reds, Petre scored a total of 22 goals in 58 Bulgarian league matches and played eight matches with one goal in European competitions.

Victoria Brănești

In November 2010, Petre returned to Romania, signing with Victoria Brănești. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 May 2011 in a 2–0 victory against Gloria Bistrița, totaling 278 matches with 46 goals in the competition.

International career

Between 1994 and 1998, Petre made several appearances for Romania's under-21 and under-23 teams. During his time with the under-21 side, he was part of the team that managed a first-ever qualification to a European Championship in 1998, which Romania subsequently hosted. In the final tournament that was composed of eight teams, coach Victor Pițurcă used him in all three games which were losses to Netherlands, Germany and Russia, as they finished in last place.
Petre played 54 matches and scored six goals for Romania, making his debut under coach Pițurcă on 19 August 1998 in a 0–0 friendly draw against Norway. He played eight games and scored one goal in a 2–1 victory against Greece in the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers. He was selected by Emerich Jenei to be part of the final tournament squad. In the group stage, Petre played only one game when he replaced Dan Petrescu in the 64th minute of the 1–0 loss to Portugal. In the quarter-finals he played the entire match in the 2–0 loss to Italy.
Petre played one game during the [2002 FIFA World Cup 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification|qualification – UEFA Group 8|2002 World Cup qualifiers] and nine games in which he scored one goal in a 2–1 victory against Finland in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Subsequently, he played seven matches and scored once in a 2–0 victory against Luxembourg in the successful Euro 2008 qualifiers. He was used by coach Victor Pițurcă in two games in the eventual group stage exit in the final tournament. His first appearance was in a 1–1 draw against Italy, where he started and played until the 59th minute before being replaced by Bănel Nicoliță. In his second appearance, he replaced Nicoliță in the 82nd minute during the 2–0 loss to the Netherlands. Petre played one game and scored one goal in a 2–2 draw against France during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. He made his last appearance for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss to Croatia.
On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, for his performance in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, where Romania managed to obtain the qualification to the final tournament. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – class III.

International stats

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
131 March 1999Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan1–01–0Euro 2000 qualifiers
23 June 2000Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania2–02–1Friendly
318 August 2004Stadionul Valentin Stănescu, Bucharest, Romania2–02–12006 World Cup qualifiers
416 November 2005Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania2–03–0Friendly
517 October 2007Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg1–02–0Euro 2008 qualifiers
611 October 2008Stadionul Farul, Constanța, Romania1–02–22010 World Cup qualifiers

Managerial career

Petre started his managerial career in February 2012 as Marin Ion's assistant coach at Dinamo II București. In the second half of the 2012–13 Liga I season, he became Cornel Țălnar's assistant at Dinamo's first team. He had his first experience as head coach in 2015 at Dinamo II. He reunited with Țălnar in 2017, working as his assistant at Brașov and Luceafărul Oradea, after which he had a spell as head coach at Foresta Suceava. From August 2018 until December 2021, Petre coached Dacia Unirea Brăila, finishing with the team in the last place of the 2018–19 Liga II season, thus being relegated to Liga III. There, he managed to gain promotion back to the second league in the 2020–21 season. However, after the first half of the 2021–22 season in which the team finished last with only two points, he and the club ended their collaboration.
In January 2022, Petre was named coach at second league side Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, but left the team in November. About one year later he went to coach in the third league at Unirea Ungheni where he earned a promotion to the second league at the end of the 2023–24 season. Shortly afterwards, he became the assistant coach of Željko Kopić at Dinamo.

Rallying

Petre was also passionate about motorsport, competing in the national rallying championships of Romania and Bulgaria. He became rally champion of Bulgaria in 2010 and competed in the 2012 rally championship of Romania, obtaining a third place at the end of one race.

Personal life

His son, Patrick, is also a footballer who started his career at Dinamo București.

Honours

Dinamo București
CSKA Sofia
Individual