Florin Bătrânu

Florin Ionel Cornelaș Bătrânu (born 19 March 1971), is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder, currently chief scout at Liga III club ASU Politehnica Timișoara.

Club career Bătrânu was born on 19 March 1971 in Oravița, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Viitorul Timișoara. He started his senior career during the 1988–89 Divizia B season at CFR Timișoara. He made his debut in European competitions in a 2–0 victory against Sporting Lisbon in the second round of the 1990–91 UEFA Cup. Politehnica reached the 1992 Cupa României final, in which coach Ion Ionescu sent Bătrânu to replace Octavian Popescu during extra time, prior to their penalty shoot-out loss to Steaua București. Subsequently, he played in a 1–1 draw against Real Madrid in the first round of the 1992–93 UEFA Cup.

After Politehnica suffered relegation at the end of the 1993–94 season, Bătrânu joined Național București. In 1995, he moved to Dinamo București for a four-season spell. Domestically, he scored a career-best eight goals during the 1997–98 season and helped the team finish second in the 1998–99 championship. However, Leiria terminated Bătrânu's contract because Dinamo demanded a transfer fee to release his registration. He also played in both legs of the 2–1 aggregate loss to Pobeda in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup qualifying round.

Bătrânu joined German fourth-tier side BFC Dynamo, where he became teammates with fellow Romanians Dorel Zegrean, Aurel Panait, Dănuț Oprea and Silvian Cristescu. The team won the 2000–01 NOFV-Oberliga Nord and then played a two-legged promotion play-off, losing 5–2 on aggregate to 1. FC Magdeburg. Bătrânu started the 2001–02 season at UM Timișoara, but midway through it he switched countries by moving to Hungary to join Kispest Honvéd. On 24 April, he scored the winning goal in the 2–1 victory over Videoton FC Fehérvár. Bătrânu also played in both legs of the 1–0 aggregate loss to Žalgiris in the first round of the 2002 Intertoto Cup.

In 2003, Bătrânu made a comeback to Politehnica Timișoara. He later featured in a 7–0 victory over Liechtenstein and a goalless draw against Slovakia during the Euro 2000 qualifiers. In November of that year, he was hired to co-coach Liga II club CFR Timișoara alongside Dan Potocianu. During the second half of the 2020–21 Liga III season, he was the head coach of Dumbrăvița, finishing in third place. Subsequently, he worked at Dumbrăvița's youth center and was the assistant to Cristian Dulca for the Romania women's national team.

International stats

Honours Politehnica Timișoara Cupa României runner-up: 1991–92 Universitatea Craiova Cupa României runner-up: 1999–2000 BFC Dynamo NOFV-Oberliga: 2000–01