Daniel Timofte (born 1 October 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder.
Club career
Daniel Timofte was born on 1 October 1967 in Lonea, Hunedoara County, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1976 at Corvinul Hunedoara, moving three years later at Jiul Petroșani.[1][2] On 31 August 1986 he made his Divizia A debut, playing for Jiul in a 3–1 home victory against Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea.[1] The team relegated at the end of his first season but Timofte stayed with the club, helping it promote back to the first league after two years.[1][2]
In the summer of 1989, he had offers from Dinamo București and Steaua București, choosing to play for the first because they were building a team composed of mainly young players like himself, also the coach that promoted him to the senior squad at Jiul, Gheorghe Mulțescu advised him to do so.[1][2] In his first season at Dinamo, the club won The Double, with Timofte being used by coach Mircea Lucescu in 20 league matches in which he scored eight goals, including one in a 3–0 win in a derby with Steaua, also he was sent on the field in the 57th minute in order to replace Anton Doboș in the 6–4 victory from the Cupa României final against the same opponents.[1][2][3][4] In the same season he played eight games in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign as the club reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht.[1][2][5]
In the middle of the following season, he left Dinamo and went to play for Bayer Uerdingen, making his Bundesliga debut on 23 February 1991 when coach Friedhelm Konietzka used him all the minutes in a 0–0 with Nürnberg.[1][6] The team relegated at the end of his first season but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one year.[1] Also during his period spent in Germany he was teammate with fellow Romanian Michael Klein.[7]
He returned for a third and final spell at Dinamo, with whom he managed to win The Double in the 1999–2000 season, being used by coach Cornel Dinu in six league games.[1][3] Daniel Timofte has a total of 98 matches with 15 goals scored in Divizia A and 24 games (including seven matches in the Intertoto Cup) without scoring in European competitions.[1]
International career
Daniel Timofte has 22 appearances with two goals scored for Romania, making his debut on 28 March 1990 under coach Emerich Jenei in a friendly which ended with a 3–1 away victory against Egypt in which he scored once.[9][10]
Jenei used him in three games at the 1990 World Cup final tournament, as the team managed to get past the group stage, reaching the round of 16 where the campaign ended after a 0–0 (5–4, after penalty kicks) loss against Ireland in which at the penalty shootout his strike was the only one defended by goalkeeper Packie Bonner.[9][11][12][13][14] That penalty miss followed him as when he went with Dinamo to play against Irish club, St Patrick's Athletic in the 1990–91 European Cup, the Irish fans gave him mocking cheers for his shootout miss.[11] After he ended his career, Timofte opened a number of bars in Petroșani, the first being named "Penalty", also Packie Bonner named his boat "Timofte".[11][12][13]
For representing his country at the 1990 World Cup, Timofte was decorated by President of RomaniaTraian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.[16]
International goals
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Timofte goal.[9][10][15]
List of international goals scored by Daniel Timofte
^"Timofte, secundul lui "Munti"" [Timofte "Munti's" assistant] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2025. "FC Vaslui are suporter de lux" [FC Vaslui has a luxury supporter] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 25 August 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
^ ab"Timofte, confirmat la Brăila" [Timofte, confirmed la Brăila] (in Romanian). Liga2.prosport.ro. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
