Virgil Mărdărescu

Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian football player and manager.

Playing career Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 in Bucharest, Romania. He made his Divizia A debut on 8 February 1948, playing for Flacăra București under the guidance of coach Emerich Vogl in a 5–0 home win over UD Reșița. He made a total of five appearances in the first league over the course of two seasons spent at Flacăra.

Managerial career Mărdărescu started coaching at age 34 in 1955 at Dinamo Brașov, then he went to Dinamo Cluj. Afterwards, in the 1958–59 season he worked at Universitatea Cluj with whom he finished the season in 11th place. His following spells were at Jiul Petroșani and Știința Craiova, with the latter being close to earn a promotion to the first league, finishing in second place in the 1960–61 Divizia B season. Between 1965 and 1968, Mărdărescu coached Farul Constanța with whom he finished in fourth place in the 1966–67 season. In 1969 he went to work for Romania Olympic/B and undertook a tour of Israel and Australia. In 1970 he was appointed coach at Politehnica Iași where he made a good impression in his first season as the club finished in 8th place. However, in the following season the team was relegated, but Mărdărescu stayed with The Copou Squad, helping it get promoted back to the first league after one year. He has a total of 273 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, consisting of 94 victories, 61 draws and 118 losses.

In 1974, Mărdărescu was hired by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to replace Abderrahmane Mahjoub as the head coach of the national team. The final game of the group was against Guinea which was coached by Mărdărescu's compatriot Petre Moldoveanu, and Morocco needed just a draw to win the competition. During his time spent with The Atlas Lions he also won the 1976 Pan Arab Games and debuted future Moroccan star Abdelmajid Dolmy.

Mărdărescu's last coaching spell was in 1980 in the United States at New York United.

Death Mărdărescu died on 11 June 2003 in Aliso Viejo, California, United States at the age of 81.

Honours Argeș Pitești Cupa României runner-up: 1964–65 Politehnica Iași Divizia B: 1972–73 Morocco Africa Cup of Nations: 1976 Pan Arab Games: 1976