Mircea Dridea (born 7 April 1937) is a Romanian former professional football player and manager, who is the current honorary president of Liga I club Petrolul PloieÃÂti.
Dridea was born on 7 April 1937 in PloieÃÂti and at age 15 he was a category one chess player. He was brought by his brother Virgil to play football in 1952 at the junior squads of Petrolul PloieÃÂti where his first coach was Emil Avasilichioaie. In 1954 he worked with Manole RÃÂdulescu until 1955, when Traian Ionescu came to the club and formed a generation of juniors which included him, Constantin Tabarcea and Vasile Sfetcu that reached the national junior championship final which was lost to Universitatea Cluj. He made his Divizia A debut under coach Ilie Oanàin October 1956 in a 2âÂÂ1 away victory against Rapid BucureÃÂti.
Under the guidance of OanÃÂ, Dridea won two consecutive titles in the 1957âÂÂ58 and 1958âÂÂ59 seasons. In the first one he played 11 matches in which he scored four goals and in the second he netted 14 goals in 18 games, being the top-scorer of the team. He scored a hat-trick in the 6âÂÂ1 victory against Siderurgistul GalaÃÂi in the 1963 Cupa României final. Subsequently, he won another championship in the 1965âÂÂ66 season, being used by coach Constantin CernÃÂianu in 25 games in which he scored 11 goals. Dridea has a total of 21 games with 10 goals scored in European competitions (including 10 appearances and five goals netted in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup), and achieved some notable performances. He scored Petrolul's first two goals in the European Cup during a 4âÂÂ2 loss to Wismut Karl Marx Stadt, the first goal in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in a 4âÂÂ1 loss to Fenerbahçe and the first goal in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in a 4âÂÂ0 win over Spartak Brno. His most important goal scored was in the first round of the 1966âÂÂ67 European Cup against Liverpool from a free kick in a 3âÂÂ1 victory, but they did not manage to qualify to the next round.
Dridea made his last Divizia A appearance on 20 June 1971 in Petrolul's 1âÂÂ1 draw against CFR TimiÃÂoara, totaling 273 matches with 142 goals in the competition.
Dridea played 15 games and scored eight goals for Romania, making his debut under coach Augustin Botescu on 30 August 1959 in a friendly that ended with a 3âÂÂ2 away win over Poland in which he scored a hat-trick.
He played in a 2âÂÂ0 home victory against Portugal in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers after which opponent Eusébio said that he considered Dridea the man of the match. He also played four games in the Euro 1968 qualifiers with one goal scored in a 4âÂÂ2 home win over Switzerland and a double netted in a 5âÂÂ1 victory against Cyprus.
Dridea started his career as coach at a junior squad of Petrolul PloieÃÂti, winning the 1972âÂÂ73 national junior title. He started the 1973âÂÂ74 Divizia A season as an assistant of Gheorghe Dumitrescu for Petrolul's senior team, but after finishing the first half of the season in 16th place, Dumitrescu left the club. Thus, Dridea became the head coach of the team for the second half, but could not save the team from relegation to Divizia B. He then coached Petrolul Teleajen in Divizia C for almost two years, being close to a promotion to Divizia B. He returned to Petrolul to lead them in the 1981âÂÂ82 Divizia B season, helping the club achieve promotion to Divizia A. In the winter of 1982 the Moroccan Football Federation asked the Romanian Football Federation to send them four coaches, and one of them was Dridea who went to FAR Rabat, leaving the club at 1983. He came back to Romania, working at Divizia B club, Prahova PloieÃÂti which he helped avoid relegation. He returned for a third spell as coach at Petrolul, because Petre Dragomir left the team after the first six games of the 1985âÂÂ86 Divizia A, leading them for two seasons. Dridea went to coach for a second spell in Morocco at Kénitra, afterwards returning to Romania at Progresul BrÃÂila. He coached in the first half of the 1988âÂÂ89 Divizia A season at Sportul StudenÃÂesc BucureÃÂti, working in the second half at OÃÂelul GalaÃÂi. In the following years he coached in the Romanian lower leagues at FlacÃÂra Moreni, Metalul Plopeni which he helped get promoted to Divizia B and Metalul FilipeÃÂtii de PÃÂdure with whom he earned a promotion to Divizia C after winning a play-off against Foresta Nehoiu. He also had a spell in Egypt at Olympic Alexandria and ended his coaching career in Tunisia at Olympique de Médenine in 1997. Dridea has a total of 121 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, consisting of 37 victories, 33 draws and 51 losses. He also worked as Petrolul's president on three occasions.
Dridea described his style of play as:"I worked enormously to be very good at headers and free kicks. If we were to go by talent, I wouldn't be in the top 20 players in the history of Petrolul. But in terms of utility, I'm sure on the podium".
Dridea's brother, Virgil, was also a footballer and a manager, they played together at Petrolul PloieÃÂti, winning two Divizia A titles. They were opponents as managers in the 1981âÂÂ82 Divizia B season when Mircea coached Petrolul and Virgil coached Metalul Plopeni.
Petrolul PloieÃÂti
Petrolul PloieÃÂti
Metalul Plopeni