Mircea Irimescu

Mircea Irimescu (born 13 May 1959) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played for Universitatea Craiova. He earned nine caps for Romania and participated in UEFA Euro 1984.

Irimescu spent most of his playing career with Universitatea, but also played for Electroputere Craiova and German side Sportfreunde Siegen before becoming a coach in his home country.

Club career Irimescu was born on 13 May 1959 in Craiova, Romania. He began playing junior-level football at local club Universitatea, winning a national junior championship in 1974. In the next round he scored in a 1–1 draw against Sportul Studențesc București. Subsequently, on 2 April 1977 he scored a brace in a 2–1 away victory against Politehnica Iași. At the first one he contributed with seven goals scored in the 26 appearances given to him by coach Valentin Stănescu and in the second he netted four goals in the 21 matches coach Ion Oblemenco used him.

Irimescu played 35 games and scored five goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions. In the second round of the 1979–80 UEFA Cup he netted a goal in the 4–0 aggregate win over Leeds United, as Universitatea became the first Romanian club that eliminated a team from England in European competitions. Subsequently, in the following round he scored a goal in the 2–1 aggregate loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Irimescu made nine appearances in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup campaign when they reached the semi-finals, scoring once against Shamrock Rovers, being eliminated by Benfica on the away goal rule after 1–1 on aggregate. Contributing four matches to the 1984–85 UEFA Cup run, he helped "U" navigate past Real Betis and Olympiacos before they ultimately fell to Željezničar in the round of 16. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 5 June 1990 under coach Sorin Cârțu in a 2–0 away loss to Corvinul Hunedoara, totaling 318 matches with 62 goals in the competition.

In 1990, Irimescu joined for one season Divizia B side Electroputere Craiova, helping them earn promotion to the first league. He played two games in the Euro 1980 qualifiers, then scored one goal in the 4–1 victory against Yugoslavia in the second leg of the 1977–80 Balkan Cup final. Subsequently, he scored his second goal in a 2–1 friendly loss to East Germany. He also had some short spells as head coach at Universitatea Craiova during the 1996–97 Divizia A season, and in 2012 at second league side ALRO Slatina.

Personal life He married former long-distance runner athlete Maria Radu. Together, they had a boy named Paul, who played football in the Romanian lower leagues.

Honours Universitatea Craiova Divizia A: 1979–80, 1980–81 Cupa României: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83 Electroputere Craiova Divizia B: 1990–91 Romania Balkan Cup: 1977–80