Florin Prunea

Florin Prunea (born 8 August 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Club career Prunea was born on 8 August 1968 in București, Romania. He began playing junior-level football in 1977 when he went to play for Steaua București, but was rejected there and shortly afterwards went to rivals, Dinamo București. There, coach Fane Stănculescu used him as a striker in his first three years and then he worked with Gheorghe Timar who started using him as a goalkeeper.

Prunea made his Divizia A debut on 31 May 1986 under coach Mircea Lucescu in Dinamo's 5–0 loss to Sportul Studențesc București. However, he made only a few appearances in the first three seasons as his childhood idol, Dumitru Moraru, was still the first choice goalkeeper of The Red Dogs. After two seasons spent as first choice goalkeeper at "U" Cluj, he joined Universitatea Craiova. In his first season he helped Craiova win The Double, being used by coach Sorin Cârțu in 32 league matches, also playing in the 2–1 victory in the Cupa României final against FC Bacău. In 1992, Prunea returned to Dinamo, where he lived his most steady period, remaining with the team for six seasons but without winning any trophies. Subsequently, Prunea returned to Romania and played just one game in the 1999–2000 season for Astra Ploiești. Prunea had his second experience abroad, when he went to Litex Lovech in Bulgaria where he was teammates with fellow Romanian Valeriu Răchită. There, he was in the center of a controversy, being accused of match fixing after a game against Levski Sofia.

He returned to Dinamo in the middle of the 2000–01 season, helping them win the Cupa României, being used by coach Cornel Dinu in the 4–2 victory in the final against Rocar București. In the following season he helped the club win the title, but coaches Dinu and Marin Ion used him in only six games, as the team's first choice goalkeeper was Bogdan Lobonț. Prunea ended his career at Național București where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 5 November 2005 in a 3–2 loss to Oțelul Galați, totaling 383 matches in the competition and 17 games in European competitions (including three in the Intertoto Cup). He made a total of three appearances during those qualifiers. Coach Anghel Iordănescu used him in only one game in the group stage, where he kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory against USA, whereas Bogdan Stelea was preferred in the first two. Prunea played from the round of 16 onwards, as they got past Argentina with a 3–2 win, reaching the quarter-finals where they faced Sweden. There, with five minutes remaining in extra time, his side was leading 2–1. However, Prunea failed to intercept a 40-meter cross in time, allowing striker Kennet Andersson to level the score at 2–2. As a result, the game went to penalties, where Sweden won 5–4. Iordănescu used him only in the 2–1 loss to the Spanish side. Prunea was also selected by coach Emerich Jenei to be part of the Euro 2000 final tournament squad, but again without playing there. On 25 April 2001 he made his last appearance for the national team in 0–0 friendly draw against Slovakia.

Executive career Prunea had his first experience as a club official, while still an active player, when he briefly served as president of FCM Bacău in 2003. After he ended his playing career, he held the position of director of international relations within the Romanian Football Federation from 2006 to 2009. Subsequently, he worked for several clubs: Dinamo București (2010–2011, sporting director), Astra Ploiești (2011–2012, president), Politehnica Iași (2012–2017, president), Dinamo București (2019–2020, president).

Personal life In 1994, Prunea was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest.

Career statistics

Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 2001–02 Cupa României: 1985–86, 2000–01 Supercupa României runner-up: 2001

Universitatea Craiova Divizia A: 1990–91 Cupa României: 1990–91

Universitatea Cluj Cupa Ligii runner-up: 1998

Național București Cupa României runner-up: 2005–06