Mircea Costache II

Mircea Costache II (2 May 1940 – 16 February 2016) was a Romanian handball player and coach who played as a pivot for Dinamo București and for the national team. He scored the winning goal in the 1961 World Championship final.

After retiring he became a coach in his native Romania and abroad in Algeria and Portugal. Costache led the national team of Algeria to a World Cup for the first time in 1974.

Between 1988 and 1995 he was named coach of both the Portugal senior national team and the Portuguese youth sides, with whom he won the European Youth Handball Championship in 1992.

Costache was also an associate professor at the Moderna University in Lisbon from 1997 to 2002, where he coach the football team and won two championships, between 1997 and 2001, and was runner-up in 1998.

Honours Source:

Player Dinamo Bucharest Romanian League: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966 European Cup: 1965 Runner-up: 1963

National team Romania World Champion: 1961, 1964 Bronze medal: 1967

Coach Nadit Alger Algerian League: 1974, 1975 Algerian Cup: 1973

Águas Santas Campeonato Nacional (III Divisão): 1996

Algeria Winner of the gold medal at the 1973 African Games Winner of the gold medal at the 1975 African University Games Winner of the silver medal at the 1976 African Championship Winner of the bronze medal at the 1975 Mediterranean Games

Portugal Winner of the gold medal at the 1992 European Youth Championship Winner of the bronze medal at the 1995 IHF Junior World Championship Portuguese University Championship footbal 11 by Moderna University of Lisbon ( 1997-1998) Runner-up in footbal 11 1998-1999 with Moderna University of Lisbon Champions again in 1999-2000 Portuguese University Championship in footbal 11

Distinctions Ordinul Muncii: 1961 Maestru Emerit al Sportului: 1961 Medalia "Meritul Sportiv": 1964 Medalha de Bons Serviços Desportivos (Portugal): 1993 Medalia Serviciu Credincios: 2001 Ordinul "Meritul sportiv" clasa II-a: 2009 Campion de Legendă: 2009

Selected publications