Costin Curelea

Costin Curelea
Personal information
Full name	Costin Romeo Curelea
Date of birth	11 July 1984 (age 41)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position	Striker
Team information
Current team	Romania U21 (head coach)
Youth career
1993–2003	Sportul Studențesc
Senior career*
Years	Team
2003–2013	Sportul Studențesc
2013	→ Dinamo Minsk (loan)
2013–2016	Universitatea Craiova
2016–2017	Voluntari
2018	Academica Clinceni
Total
International career
2005–2006	Romania U21
2011	Romania
Managerial career
2018–2020	Academica Clinceni (assistant)
2020	CFR Cluj (assistant)
2021	Kayserispor (assistant)
2021–2023	CFR Cluj (assistant)
2023–2025	Romania U20
2025–	Romania U21
	* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Costin Romeo Curelea (born 11 July 1984) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player who played as a striker and currently the head coach of Romania national under-21 team.

Career

In his first league match for Sportul Studenţesc, a Liga II game against Dacia Mioveni, Costin Curelea scored two goals as Sportul won by 3 goals to 1. He played his first Liga I match against Apulum Alba Iulia, on 31 July 2004. After two months, he managed to score his first Liga I goal against FCM Bacău, in a 1–1 draw match played at Regie Stadium.^[1]

After Sportul Studenţesc was relegated due to financial reasons at the end of 2005–2006 season, Costin Curelea remained at the team, alongside Viorel Ferfelea, Dacian Varga and Tiberiu Bălan. Since then, he was often the team top-scorer. In the 2006–2007 season, Curelea scored 14 goals for his team in 29 matches.^[1]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National Cup^[a]		Europe		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sportul Studenţesc	2003–04	Divizia B	18	4	0	0	—		—		18	4
	2004–05	Divizia A	23	2	3	1	—		—		26	3
	2005–06	Divizia A	29	4	1	0	—		—		30	4
	2006–07	Liga II	30	14	1	0	—		—		31	14
	2007–08		27	8	1	0	—		—		28	8
	2008–09		31	13	4	2	—		—		35	15
	2009–10		29	20	3	0	—		—		32	20
	2010–11	Liga I	33	9	2	1	—		—		35	10
	2011–12	Liga I	28	4	0	0	—		—		28	4
	2012–13	Liga II	6	4	0	0	—		—		6	4
	Total		254	82	15	4	—		—		269	86
Dinamo Minsk (loan)	2013	Belarusian Premier League	14	6	2	1	—		—		16	7
Universitatea Craiova	2013–14	Liga II	27	10	—		—		—		27	10
	2014–15	Liga I	15	3	1	0	—		1^[b]	0	17	3
	2015–16	Liga I	14	0	1	0	—		1^[b]	0	16	0
	Total		56	13	2	0	—		2	0	60	13
Voluntari	2016–17	Liga I	15	0	2	0	—		—		17	0
Academica Clinceni	2017–18	Liga II	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
Career total			339	101	21	5	0	0	2	0	362	106

↑ Includes Cupa României, Belarusian Cup
1 2 Appearances in Cupa Ligii

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania
Romania	2011	1	0
Total		1	0

Managerial

As of match played 31 March 2026

Team	Country	From	To	Record
Team	Country	From	To	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Romania U20		3 August 2023	10 July 2025	16	4	5	7	19	26	−7	025.00
Romania U21		10 July 2025	present	8	4	1	3	8	5	+3	050.00
Total				24	8	6	10	27	31	−4	033.33