Costel Orac

Costel Orac (born 22 January 1959) is a Romanian retired footballer and current coach.

Costel Orac
Orac in 1984
Personal information
Full nameConstantin Orac
Date of birth (1959-01-22) 22 January 1959 (age 65)
Place of birthGalați, Romania
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)Striker
Team information
Current team
Concordia Chiajna (youth center director)
Youth career
1970–1971Politehnica Galați
1971–1976FCM Galați
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1976–1981FCM Galați90(11)
1981–1989Dinamo București217(41)
1989–1990Victoria București2(1)
1990Étoile Carouge25(14)
1991Dinamo București6(1)
1991–1992Unirea Focșani22(13)
Total372(91)
International career
Romania U213(0)
Romania Olympic team5(0)
1984–1986Romania3(1)
Managerial career
1991–1992Unirea Focșani (player/assistant)
1992–1994Unirea Focșani
1994–1995Selena Bacău
1996–1997Alki Larnaca
1997–1998FC Brașov
1999–2000Bihor Oradea
2000–2001FCM Poiana Câmpina
2001–2002FC Baia Mare
2002–2003Oțelul Galați
2004–2005Botoșani
2005–2006Unirea Urziceni
2006–2007Otopeni
2007–2008FCM Bacău
2009Dinamo București (assistant)
2009–2010Dinamo II București
2010–2011Concordia Chiajna
2011–2012Botoșani
2014–Concordia Chiajna (Youth Center director)
2020–2021Concordia Chiajna (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16 March 2010
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 March 2010

Club career

Costel Orac was born on 22 January 1959 in Galați.[1][2] He made his Divizia A debut on 22 August 1976, playing for FCM Galați in a 1–0 loss against Jiul Petroșani.[1] He played 5 seasons in the first two leagues for FCM Galați, after which he was transferred at Dinamo București together with teammate Nicușor Vlad.[1][2][3] In his first three seasons spent at the club, he won the Divizia A title in all of them, in the first he contributed with 9 goals scored in 32 matches, in the second he played 30 games and scored 4 goals and in the third he made 23 appearances and scored 5 goals.[1][2] Orac also won three Cupa României with the Red Dogs, scoring the decisive goal in the 2–1 victory against rival Steaua București from the 1984 final and appeared in 26 matches in which he scored 5 goals in European competitions, including helping the team eliminate Inter Milan by scoring the decisive goal of the 3–2 victory from the second leg in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup season and appeared in 7 games in which he scored two goals against Hamburg and Liverpool in the 1983–84 European Cup as the club reached the semi-finals.[1][2][4][5][6][7] In 1989, Orac alongside teammates Dumitru Moraru and Alexandru Nicolae were transferred from Dinamo to Victoria București where because of a conflict he had with coach Florin Halagian, he played only two Divizia A games in which he scored one goal and made one appearance in the 1989–90 UEFA Cup in which he gave an assist in a 1–1 against Valencia.[1][2][3][4][5] After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Orac went to play in the Nationalliga B where he was recommended by coach Mircea Lucescu to Étoile Carouge's coach Radu Nunweiller.[1][2][4][5][8] In Switzerland, after an injury, Orac found out at a medical control that he has problems with his back, he returned to play at Dinamo for a short while, making his last appearance in Divizia A on 11 May 1991 in a 1–1 against Universitatea Craiova after which he went to play in Divizia B at Unirea Focșani where he retired after playing one season.[1][2][4][5] During his whole career, Costel Orac played 308 Divizia A matches in which he scored 54 goals and made 27 appearances in which he scored 5 goals in European competitions.[1][2][4][5]

International career

Costel Orac played three friendly games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 29 July 1984 under coach Mircea Lucescu in a 4–2 victory against China in which he scored one goal.[9][10] His following two games were a 1–1 and a 0–0 against Iraq.[9]

International stats

Romania national team[9]
YearAppsGoals
198411
198500
198620
Total31

International goals

Romania's goal tally first.[10]
Costel Orac – International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.29 July 1984Stadionul 23 August, Iaşi, Romania  China3–04–2Friendly

Managerial career

Costel Orac started his coaching career while he was still an active player, being an assistant at Unirea Focșani in the 1991–92 Divizia B.[5] From the 1992–93 Divizia B season, he began his career as a head coach at Unirea Focșani and in 1996 he had his only coaching experience outside Romania, for one season and a half in the Cypriot First Division at Alki Larnaca.[5] He spent most of his career coaching in Divizia B, having a total of 356 games, managing to win four promotions to the first league with Selena Bacău, Baia Mare, Unirea Urziceni and Concordia Chiajna.[2][4][5] Costel Orac has a total of 73 matches managed in Divizia A and in 2009 he was Dario Bonetti's assistant at Dinamo for a few months.[2][4][5]

Personal life

His nephew, Daniel Orac was also a footballer.[11][12][13]

Honours

Player

FCM Galați

Dinamo București

Coach

Selena Bacău

References