Article by Eduard Apostol – Published on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, 12:54 / Updated on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 13:07
Florentin Petre, 50, shared with the footballers a moment of his impressive career at a time when Dinamo collected 5 consecutive defeats
Dinamo is going through the most difficult period in the last two years. He has collected 5 failures in a row in the play-offs and it is the last one. Just when the “red dogs” dreamed of being actively involved in the fight for the title.
The team is reuniting today for training in Săftica. Zeljko Kopic's second-in-command Florentin Petre, 50, the former red-white and tricolor midfielder, posted an online message aimed at “moving” the Dynamo players.
Florentin Petre and what he experienced in his life as a footballer: “They looked like they were taken out of a movie with Rambo”
“In this picture, it's not just a phase of the game, it's the way we adapt on the fly, how we transform shortcomings into solutions.
Florentin Petre in the duel from the beginning of the 2000s, at the old Petrol stadium, with the “Gazarii” from Ploiești
The ball was red, but in the speed of the game and in that cold winter light, it was easy to lose it against the background of snow, and the eyes tired quickly, so we found our simple and crazy solution: we put shoe polish under our eyes to reduce the reflection and see more clearly!!!
Without knowing any theories or explanations at the time, we just felt that it worked and that was enough.
If you looked at us from the sidelines, we looked like we were out of a Rambo movie, dirty-faced kids, serious, focused, like we weren't playing a game, we were fighting a battle, only our weapon was the ball and all we wanted was to keep our eyes on it.
I didn't have perfect conditions, but I had the desire. I had courage. It wasn't easy. But it was there, in the cold and snow, that I learned to fight. And I never forgot that feeling”, wrote Florentin Petre in a message published on Facebook.
7Florentin Petre scored goals in European cups for Dinamo in 39 matches
Florentin Petre – legend of the Dinamo club
AI-generated summary when you type Florentin Petre's name on Google: “He is a legend of the Dinamo Bucharest club, for which he played for 12 seasons (1994-2006), winning 9 trophies: 3 championship titles (2000, 2002, 2004), 5 Romanian Cups and a Supercup. A fast wing midfielder, nicknamed “Piticu'”, scored 46 of goals in 278 Ligue 1 games for the 'dogs'.
What Artificial Intelligence doesn't say is that Petre spent 18 years in the “dogs' yard”, being a one hundred percent made in Stephen the Great product. After the event in 2000, after the heartache caused by the loss of Cătălin Hîldan, Florentin was diagnosed with hepatitis C.
He did not give up, he returned to the field, he also went through a serious fishing accident, which kept him away from football for two years. And he won the event in 2004, plus other trophies for Dinamo.
In 2006, because they wanted to “reshuffle” the lot, he was almost forced to leave. At “Star of Bulgaria” – ČSKA Sofia, with whom he won the championship in 2008.
After 9 years of coaching, after promoting Unirea Ungheni to the second league in the summer of 2024, Florentin Petre was brought in as Zeljko Kopic's second. He had also been “second” in other mandates, he also worked for a while in scouting. He also promoted Dacia Unirea Brăila to the second tier in 2021.
6Florentin Petre has goals for the national team in 53 selections. He participated with the tricolors at Euro 2000 and Euro 2008
