Vlad Ioan Munteanu (born 16 January 1981) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.[1]
Club career
Munteanu was born on 16 January 1981 in Bacău, Romania and started to play football at local club, FCM for which he made his Divizia A debut on 6 March 1999 in a 2–0 home victory against Astra Ploiești.[2][3][4] After two seasons spent with FCM he went for a six-seasons spell at Dinamo București with whom he won the only trophies of his career, also in the same period making his only appearances in European competitions consisting of a total of 10 UEFA Cup matches with two goals scored.[2][3] His first performance was winning the 2000–01 Cupa României, however coach Cornel Dinu did not use him in the final, in the following season Munteanu helped Dinamo win the title, coaches Dinu and Marin Ion giving him 19 appearances in which he scored 5 goals, also during the same season he played a few games for the club's then satellite team, Poiana Câmpina.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] His biggest performances with The Red Dogs came when Ioan Andone became head coach at the club, first winning the 2002–03 Cupa României, being sent in the 90+2 minute to replace Florentin Petre in the 1–0 victory from the final in front of Național București.[2][3][9] In the following season he helped the club win The Double, being used by Andone in 18 league games in which he scored one goal and again as a substitute in the Cupa României final, sending him this time on the field in the 55th minute to replace Ionuț Badea, opening the score about 10 minutes later in the 2–0 victory against Oțelul Galați, also providing two perfect assists to Claudiu Niculescu and Ianis Zicu's goals in the 2–0 home victory against Shakhtar Donetsk which helped them eliminate the Ukrainians in the UEFA Cup.[2][3][6][10][11] After playing only a few games in the first half of the 2004–05 season he was announced by Andone that he will not be part of his plans for the second half of the season so he went on a loan to Național București.[2][3][4][5][12] He returned to Dinamo for the 2005–06 season, Andone using him as a starter until the 69th minute when he replaced him with Ianis Zicu in the 3–2 victory against rivalsSteaua București which helped the team earn for the first time in its history the Supercupa României, also Andone used him in 6 games from the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when the team eliminated Omonia Nicosia against whom he scored a goal, Everton with a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage where the campaign ended but there he scored the only goal of a 1–0 victory against CSKA Moscow which mathematically eliminated the title holders from the competition.[2][3][13][14][15][16][17]
In 2006, Munteanu signed with Energie Cottbus of the German Bundesliga where he made a couple in the team's offence with fellow Romanian Sergiu Radu, they were nicknamed by the German press "The Twins of the Goal" as through the 2006–07 season Munteanu scored a personal record of 11 goals while Radu netted the goal 14 times which together are over half of the total 38 goals scored by the team that helped it avoid relegation.[2][3][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] In the summer of 2007 he and Sergiu Radu were transferred by VfL Wolfsburg who paid 4.5 million€ for them of which 1.5 were for Munteanu.[18][19][20][22][23] After in the first half of the 2007–08 Bundesliga season he was used by coach Felix Magath in 10 league games, he was sent in the second half to play on loan for French Ligue 1 side Auxerre under coach Jean Fernandez alongside compatriots Daniel Niculae and Gabriel Tamaș but after only 12 appearances in all competitions he returned back to Wolfsburg, claiming he could not adapt to the fact that the French football was relying too much on physical strength.[2][3][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] After not being part of Magath's plans for The Wolves in the 2008–09 season as he only played for the team's satellite team in the fourth division, he was loaned for the second half of the season to Arminia Bielefeld where he would make his last Bundesliga appearances, a competition in which he gained a total of 58 appearances and 13 goals scored.[2][3][35][36][37][38][39][40] The following season Munteanu started again by playing in the first half for Wolfsburg's satellite team, being loaned for the second half at 2. Bundesliga club FSV Frankfurt.[2][3][5][41][42]
In January 2011, he ended his contract with Wolfsburg and signed a deal for six months with his old club, Dinamo București.[2][3][5] Afterwards he went to play for the 2011–12 season at Concordia Chiajna where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 9 May 2012 in a 3–1 victory against Pandurii Târgu Jiu, having a total of 172 matches played and 19 goals scored in the competition.[2][43] In 2013, after one season spent at 2. Bundesliga side Erzgebirge Aue in which he made six appearances, Vlad Munteanu retired at age 32.[2][44][45]
International career
Vlad Munteanu appeared in one international match for Romania on 21 August 2002 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in the 79th minute in order to replace Paul Codrea in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss in front of Greece.[46][47] In 2007, during his prolific season spent at Energie Cottbus together with Sergiu Radu, the Romanian press insisted that they should be called-up for the national team but coach Victor Pițurcă did not accept saying about the Bundesliga championship:"It's not what it once was! The clubs are at a low level and the players are of average value."[21][23][24][25][48][49]
