Constantin Cernăianu (12 October 1933 – 22 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and coach.

Playing career

Constantin Cernăianu was born on 12 October 1933 in Târgu Jiu, Romania, starting to play football in 1949 at local club, Flacăra. In 1954 he went for one year at Știința București, then he returned to Târgu Jiu at Pandurii where he played until 1960 when he retired.

Managerial career

Constantin Cernăianu became a football coach shortly after he retired from playing in 1960, becoming Ilie Oană's assistant at Petrolul Ploiești winning together the 1962–63 Cupa României. Cernăianu became the team's head coach in 1965, helping it win the 1965–66 Divizia A championship, thus at age 32 becoming one of the youngest coaches who ever won the title. In the middle of that season he went for a month to study the training sessions of Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan. He then participated with The Yellow Wolves in the first round of the 1966–67 European Cup against Liverpool, earning a 3–1 victory which however was not enough to qualify to the next round. In 1968, Ilie Oană came back to Petrolul, Cernăianu being his assistant again until 1969 when Oană left the club to go coach Panserraikos in Greece. From 1969 until 1971 Cernăianu was the team's head coach but then Oană came back again and Cernăianu did not accept to be his assistant anymore, leaving the club. He went to be head coach at Universitatea Craiova, being close to win the title in the 1972–73 season but "U" finished on the second place on equal points with Dinamo București, losing controversially on the goal difference for which poet Adrian Păunescu nicknamed Craiova as "Campioana unei mari iubiri" (The Champion of a great love). In the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup season, "U" Craiova got pass Fiorentina with a 1–0 aggregate win, being eliminated in the following one by Standard Liège. In the same season he helped Craiova win the league title, which was the first trophy in the club's history. The following season, "U" suffered a 4–3 aggregate loss in front of Åtvidaberg in the first round of the European Cup, also the team reached the 1975 Cupa României final which was eventually lost after a 2–1 defeat with Rapid București. Cernăianu is the coach that in 1973 gave 16-year-old Ilie Balaci his debut in professional football. In the same period he coached in parallel Romania's students football team, winning two Universiade gold medals in the 1972 edition that was held in Romania and the 1974 one from France. From 1976 until 1978 he was Ștefan Kovács's assistant at Romania's national team, failing to qualify to the 1978 World Cup. In 1979 he became head coach of The Tricolours, his first game being a friendly which was lost 3–1 with Soviet Union. His following two games were a loss with Yugoslavia and a victory over Cyprus at the Euro 1980 qualifiers. He also led the national team in another loss with Yugoslavia at the final of the 1977–80 Balkan Cup, his last game taking place on 2 April 1980 in a 2–2 with East Germany, having a total of six games consisting of one victory, one draw and four losses. He also worked for Romania's under-20 squad, guiding it at the 1981 World Youth Championship from Australia, helping the team finish the tournament in the third position, winning the bronze medal. Afterwards, Cernăianu went to coach several Bucharest clubs like Sportul Studențesc, Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid, also he had his first spell abroad, coaching Olympiakos Nicosia which he helped earn promotion to the first league. Since 1987, he went to coach Gloria Bistrița for one year, than he made a comeback at Olympiakos Nicosia, working there for four years until 1992, managing to reach the 1990–91 Cypriot Cup final which was lost with 1–0 in front of Omonia Nicosia. Constantin Cernăianu has a total of 390 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 168 victories, 93 draws and 129 losses.

Writing

In 1997 he wrote a book about football coaching called Manualul antrenorului profesionist (The Professional Coach's Handbook).

Death

Constantin Cernăianu died on 22 June 2015 at age 81.

Honours

Manager

Petrolul Ploiești Universitatea Craiova Olympiakos Nicosia Romania University