Mutu No1 again in Romania

ACF Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has been voted Romanian Player of the Year for the fourth time, with international team-mates Cristian Chivu (FC Internazionale Milano) and Dorin Goian (FC Steaua Bucureşti) coming second and third in the poll.

Great season
Mutu scored Romania's only goal at UEFA EURO 2008™ in their 1-1 draw with Italy, and also finished as the joint-fourth highest scorer in Serie A during the 2007/08 season with 17 goals, helping La Viola finish fourth to earn a return to the UEFA Champions League. The 29-year-old was also voted Romania's Player of the Year in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Dan Petrescu was voted Coach of the Year for the first time for his sterling work at FC Unirea Urziceni, who finished a surprise fifth in Liga 1 last season, reached the Romanian Cup final and are only a point off leaders FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti at the mid-way stage of this season.

CFR success
Ioan Andone, who won the league and cup double with CFR 1907 Cluj before being sacked just prior to the start of the UEFA Champions League, was runner-up, with FC Shakhtar Donetsk's Mircea Lucescu third. CFR monopolised the Best Foreign Player award with the Cluj club's Sebastián Dubarbier, Juan Culio and Yssouf Koné finishing first through third. The awards are organised by Romanian daily sports newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor with 60,000 fans, the captains, coaches and club presidents from all 18 Liga 1 sides and 70 sports journalists voting.