Valeriu Călinoiu

Valeriu Călinoiu (9 October 1928 – 20 December 1990) was a Romanian footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Club career Călinoiu was born on 9 October 1928 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1942 at Olympia București, moving after one year to Carmen București. He started his senior career in 1948 at IMS Hunedoara. After a short period spent in Divizia B at Dinamo Brașov, a team he helped promote to the first league, he went to play for Dinamo București in 1951. In the following season, Călinoiu helped the club win its first Divizia A title, scoring one goal in the 22 matches he was used by Niculescu. He played in the first European match of a Romanian team in the 1956–57 European Cup in the 3–1 victory against Galatasaray in which he was also the team's captain. The Red Dogs advanced to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, Călinoiu playing in all four games of the campaign. He reached another Cupa României final in 1959, this time winning it, as coach Iuliu Baratky played him for the entire match in the 4–0 win over CSM Baia Mare. On 19 June 1960, Călinoiu played his last Divizia A match for Dinamo in a 3–1 away loss against Farul Constanța, totaling 167 matches with nine goals in the competition. He played four games in which he scored one goal in a 2–1 away victory against Bulgaria during the 1954 World Cup qualifiers.

Death Călinoiu died on 20 December 1990 at age 62.

Honours Dinamo Brașov Divizia B: 1950 Dinamo București Divizia A: 1955 Cupa României: 1958–59, runner-up 1954