Pițurcă and Romania part ways for third time
Thursday, October 16, 2014
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Romania, on seven points from their first three qualifiers, are in need of a coach after Victor Pițurcă stood down by mutual consent to sign a contract with al-Ittihad FC.
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Victor Pițurcă has left his post as Romania coach by mutual consent to join Saudi Arabian side al-Ittihad FC.
Pițurcă and the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) reached an agreement on Thursday to curtail the former FC Steaua Bucureşti and FC Universitatea Craiova trainer's third spell in charge of the national team. The 58-year-old will travel to the Middle East to sign a two-year deal with al-Ittihad, taking with him his entire back room and technical staff.
That leaves Romania, who have accrued seven points from their first three UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers, seeking at least a temporary replacement before hosting Group F leaders Northern Ireland on 14 November and entertaining Denmark in a friendly four days later.
Pițurcă won 53 of his 96 matches as Tricolorii coach. He was previously at the helm from 1998–99 and 2004–09, with his sides qualifying for the 2000 and 2008 UEFA European Championships. Pițurcă – who will give a press conference on Friday – was reappointed in July 2011 and in total oversaw only one defeat in 29 continental qualifiers, but never managed to guide Romania to a FIFA World Cup.
