Cornel Dinu

Cornel Dinu
Dinu with Dinamo București in the 1970s
Personal information
Date of birth (1948-08-02) 2 August 1948
Place of birth Târgoviște, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Sweeper, defensive midfielder
Youth career
1963–1965 Metalul Târgoviște
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1966 Metalul Târgoviște
1966–1983 Dinamo București 454 (53)
Total 454 (53)
International career
1968–1981 Romania 67 (3)
Managerial career
1983–1984 Dinamo București (assistant)
1984–1985 Dinamo București
1985–1987 CS Târgoviște
1987–1988 ASA Târgu Mureș
1988 Oțelul Galați
1989 Universitatea Cluj
1989–1990 Olt Scornicești
1992–1993 Romania
1996 Dinamo București (caretaker)
1998–2001 Dinamo București
2002–2003 Dinamo București
2013– Dinamo București (board member)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder.

He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spend the rest of his career at Dinamo București with which he won eight domestic trophies. Internationally, Dinu appeared in over 60 matches for the Romania national team and scored three goals. He was named the Romanian Footballer of the Year three times, in 1970, 1972 and 1974, and in the former year also finished on the 24th place in the Ballon d'Or voting.

After retiring as a player, Dinu coached Dinamo București on five occasions among other stints, initially in the role of an assistant. Between 1992 and 1993, he was at the helm of the Romania national team.