Remus Vlad

Remus Vlad was born 19 January 1946 in Cinciș, Hunedoara County, starting to play junior level football in 1957 at Minerul Teliuc.^[1][2][3][4] In 1960 he moved to Metalul Hunedoara where he worked with junior coach Dumitru Pătrașcu, then six years later he would start to play for the senior squad in Divizia B.^[1][2][4]

He was close to a move to Dinamo București but eventually he went at Argeș Pitești where on 18 August 1968 he made his Divizia A debut in a 4–0 home win with Politehnica Iași.^[1][2][3] In his first years at the club he would make a successful couple in the central defense with Ion Barbu.^[5][6] After Barbu went to play for Beşiktaş, Vlad was elected as the team's captain, star player Nicolae Dobrin insisted for this as he appreciated Vlad's professionalism.^[2][3] In the 1971–72 season he helped Argeș win the first title in its history, coaches Titus Ozon and Florin Halagian giving him 30 appearances.^[1][2][4][7] Afterwards he played four games in the 1972–73 European Cup, eliminating Aris Bonnevoie in the first round, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid but lost the second leg with 3–1.^[1][2][3][8] Years later in an interview for the Adevărul newspaper he talked about the victory with the Spaniards:"I am proud of the fact that I was the captain of the team. That match was the biggest event in my sporting life, I met a huge team. It was a performance, we beat the great Real Madrid in Pitești. The Spaniards had a team with many internationals. We were a group of young people, including Florin Halagian, our coach was young. We also had a very good second coach, Tănase Dima. I had no special preparation for the match against Real. Before the match, we all had special personal experiences, because we realized what a great team we were going to play with, the legendary Santiago Bernabéu was also present in Pitești. It was an extraordinary event, I was somehow floating."^[9]

In 1974, Vlad returned to Hunedoara in Divizia B, helping them promote to the first league two years later.^[1][2] Vlad's last Divizia A appearance took place on 4 December 1977 in a 1–0 home win in front of Olimpia Satu Mare, having a total of 219 matches with four goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 10 games in European competitions, including four in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.^{[1][3][6][10]}

Remus Vlad was taken in consideration to be a member of Romania's squad that went at the 1970 World Cup but eventually Nicolae Pescaru was preferred in his place.^[2][6] He played three friendly games at international level for The Tricolours, making his debut under Gheorghe Ola on 30 January 1972 in a 4–2 away win against Morocco.^[4][11][12] His following game was a 2–2 with Peru and his last one played for the national team was a 2–0 away loss in front of Soviet Union.^[4][11]

While still being an active player, Remus Vlad started coaching juniors at Corvinul, discovering Mircea Rednic.^[2][3][6] In 1982 he became head coach of Corvinul after Mircea Lucescu left the team, guiding it through the 1982–83 UEFA Cup campaign, as they passed Grazer AK in the first round but got eliminated in the following one by FK Sarajevo.^[2][6][13] With a few rounds before the end of his first season he left the team because he found out that the club transferred Rednic and Ioan Andone to Dinamo București without consulting him.^[2][3]

He went to coach in Divizia B at Universitatea Cluj, being brought there by the club's president Remus Câmpeanu, helping them promote to the first league in his second season.^[2][3][5][6] Then he led The Red Caps for three full seasons in the top-league, earning a 7th place in the first one and two 10th places in the next two but after the first half of the 1988–89 season he was replaced with Cornel Dinu, also in this period he gave 18-year-old Ioan Sabău his Divizia A debut.^{[3][5][14][15]} In 1990 he went to coach Gloria Bistrița in Divizia B, helping them earn a first-ever promotion to the first league.^[3][6][10] Vlad returned to "U" Cluj for the 1992–93 Divizia A season, finishing it on the 11th place, then he started the following one by working as a technical director for the same team, head coach being Dan Anca.^[3][16] In 1994 he returned to Gloria Bistrița, firstly as head coach but shortly after he became technical director and together with coach Constantin Cârstea, they helped the club win the first trophy in its history, the 1993–94 Cupa României, after a 1–0 over Universitatea Craiova in the final.^[3][17]

In January 1995 he became head coach of Dinamo București, taking the club from the 7th place and finishing third, thus qualifying for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup where they were eliminated in the preliminary round by Levski Sofia with 2–1 on aggregate, leaving the club in November.^[2][3][6] Vlad returned to Gloria Bistrița once again, reaching the 1996 Cupa României final which was lost with 3–1 in front of Steaua București, also he led the team in the 1996–97 Cup Winners' Cup, helping them eliminate Valletta in the qualifying round, being eliminated with 2–1 on aggregate by Gabriel Batistuta's Fiorentina in the first round.^{[3][6][18][19]} From 1999 to 2000 he worked for eight months at Olimpia Satu Mare.^[2][6][20] He had his last coaching spell from 2002 until 2004 at Bistrița with whom he finished the 2002–03 season on the third place.^[3][10] Afterwards he would work for Gloria Bistrița on several occasions as a technical director.^[10][21]

Remus Vlad has a total of 355 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 144 victories, 63 draws and 148 losses, also he has a total of 20 matches led in European competitions.^[3][10]

In 2013, Vlad received the Honorary Citizen of Hunedoara title.^[6][22]

Argeș Pitești

• Divizia A: 1971–72^[1]

Corvinul Hunedoara

• Divizia B: 1975–76^[1]

Universitatea Cluj

• Divizia B: 1984–85^[14]

Gloria Bistrița

• Divizia B: 1989–90^[10]
• Cupa României runner-up: 1995–96^[18]

• Remus Vlad at National-Football-Teams.com
• Remus Vlad at WorldFootball.net