Paul Constantin Codrea (; born 4 April 1981) is a Romanian football manager and former player, currently youth coach at Liga II club DumbrÃÂviÃÂa.
Codrea was born on 4 April 1981 in TimiÃÂoara, Romania and began playing junior-level football in his hometown at LPS Banatul. He started his senior career at Dinamo BucureÃÂti, making his Divizia A debut on 1 March 1997 when coach Cornel ÃÂÃÂlnar sent him to replace CÃÂtÃÂlin Hîldan in a 1âÂÂ0 loss to Gloria BistriÃÂa. After playing one more Divizia A game for Dinamo, the club loaned him to Politehnica TimiÃÂoara in Divizia B. Two seasons later, he returned to Divizia A football, being loaned by Dinamo to ArgeàPiteÃÂti.
In 2001, Codrea moved abroad, signing with Serie B club Genoa for a transfer fee of $2.75 million, where he was teammates with fellow Romanians Claudiu Niculescu, Adrian Mihalcea, Valentin NÃÂstase and Marius Sava. He later joined Palermo for a transfer fee of approximately â¬2.5 million plus the forward Giuseppe Mascara. Codrea reunited at The Eagles with NÃÂstase and in the first half of the 2003âÂÂ04 season he helped the team win the Serie B title, thus gaining promotion to Serie A. In January 2004, Codrea was loaned by Palermo, together with Franco Brienza to Serie A team, Perugia in exchange for the transfer of Fabio Grosso. He made his Serie A debut on 29 February 2004 under coach Serse Cosmi in Perugia's 2âÂÂ2 draw against Parma. He netted his first goal in the competition on 29 February in a 4âÂÂ2 home win over Bologna. Afterwards, Codrea was loaned once again by Palermo to Torino for the 2004âÂÂ05 Serie B season in which he scored one goal in 35 appearances, helping them gain promotion to Serie A, which was later revoked because of the club's financial problems. He returned to Palermo, where he made six appearances in the 2005âÂÂ06 UEFA Cup campaign as the club reached the round of 16 where they were eliminated by Schalke 04. Codrea definitively left Palermo when he signed with Siena in 2006, where he played in over 100 Serie A matches until 2012, and for a short while was teammates with compatriot Cosmin MoÃÂi. In 2011 he was loaned to Bari for half a year. His last Serie A appearance took place on 7 January 2012 in Siena's 4âÂÂ0 home win over Lazio, totaling 133 games with three goals in the competition and 111 matches with six goals in Serie B.
In July 2012, Codrea returned to Romania and joined Rapid BucureÃÂti where on 2 December he played his last game in the Romanian first league in a 1âÂÂ0 away loss to FC Vaslui, having a total of 47 appearances with one goal in the competition. In the winter of 2013, he returned home at Politehnica TimiÃÂoara, being a player-manager.
Codrea played 44 games and scored one goal for Romania, making his debut on 15 November 2000 under coach László Bölöni in a 2âÂÂ1 friendly victory against FR Yugoslavia. His sole goal for the national team came on his fourth appearance, in a 3âÂÂ0 friendly victory against Lithuania. Codrea played four games in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, five in the Euro 2004 qualifiers and two during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Afterwards, he played eight games in the successful Euro 2008 qualifiers. He was used by coach Victor PiÃÂurcàin all three games in the eventual group stage exit in the Euro 2008 final tournament. In the first game, which was a 0âÂÂ0 draw against France, he came as a substitute and replaced RÃÂzvan Cociàin the 64th minute. In the second he played the entire match in the 1âÂÂ1 draw against Italy and in the third he was a starter, being replaced in the 72nd minute by Nicolae Dicàin the 2âÂÂ0 loss to Netherlands. Codrea played four games during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and made his last appearance for the national team on 3 March 2010 in a 2âÂÂ0 friendly loss to Israel.
On 25 March 2008, Codrea was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian BÃÂsescu, for his performance in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, where Romania managed to qualify to the final tournament. He received Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" â ("The Sportive Merit" Medal) class III.
He signed with fifth league team ASU Politehnica TimiÃÂoara in 2013, replacing Antonio Foale who became General Manager. He debuted with a 3âÂÂ0 victory over Gran-Plaz Liebling on 18 March 2013. He resigned on 29 November 2014.
Palermo
Ghiroda