Valentin Sinescu

Valentin Sinescu (born 16 July 1963) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer. As a footballer, Sinescu played for Astra Ploiești in the lower leagues, during the 1980s and 1990s. In parallel with his football career, Sinescu studied petrochemical engineering and then worked as an engineer at the Ploiești Refinery, hence his nickname, "the engineer".

Since 1997, he started to work as an assistant manager for Astra Ploiești, club for which he was also a caretaker manager, secretary, translator, youth coach and manager in the next 15 years. Sinescu made its debut in the Liga I as a manager in 1999, when for a short period was the caretaker manager of "The Black Devils", then in 2012 he also debuted as a (full) manager in the top-flight, for the same club. Sinescu also worked for teams such as FC Argeș Pitești, Oțelul Galați, Petrolul Ploiești or Unirea Dej, among others. These qualities recommended him for a job as a professor at the Football Managers School of the Romanian Football Federation, but also gave him two new nicknames "the philosopher" or "the professor".