Article by Adrian Duţă – Published on Wednesday, 05 November 2025 21:42 / Updated on Wednesday, 05 November 2025 22:26
The former great coach of Stella, who won the Champions Cup in 1986, died at the age of 88 on November 5. He will be buried on Saturday, in Oradea.
Gino Iorgulescu's message, after the death of Emeric Ienei
“Mr. Ienei, nea Imi as those close to him called him, was a rare man! His sporting performances, both as a footballer at UTA and CCA, and especially as a coach, are hard to match. Winning the only European trophy of Romanian football and the special results he had, later, as the Romanian national team, made an entire nation happy.
Above all his professional achievements, Mr. Emeric Ienei was a man endowed with a great delicacy of soul, he was a man who won his unanimous respect because he was constantly concerned to treat everyone around him with respect.
From today, November 5, 2025, Romanian football is poorer. May God rest him in peace and give strength to his family, who have been so hard tried!”, Gino Iorgulescu transmitted, via the LPF website.
10 key figures from Emeric Ienei's coaching career:
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386 matches in the first division with Steaua, FC Bihor, CS Târgovişte and U Craiova. Record: 218 wins, 79 draws, 89 losses
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6 championship titles, all with Steaua: 1975/76, 1977/78, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1993/94. In 1976 he stopped a streak of 8 years without a title, the longest in the history of the red-blues
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4 Romanian Cups: 1975/76, 1984/85, 1991/92, 1998/99
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European Champions Cup 1985/86
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51 of matches for the Romanian national team: 23 wins, 14 draws, 14 failures
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He qualified Romania for the WC 1990, after a break of 20 years
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It was Romania's coach at EC 2000, the first victory in a continental final tournament, 3-2 with England, is also linked to his name
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He succeeded the first qualification from the groups of a world tournament (CM 1990) and the first of the groups of a European tournament (EC 2000)
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He led Steaua in 31 European games. Record: 13 wins, 8 draws, 10 losses. The final with FC Barcelona was the 13th match
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It's the technician with most Derbies Steaua – Dinamo, 23 (19 in the championship and 4 in the Cup)
