Costel Orac

Orac was born on 22 January 1959 in Galați, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1970 at local club Politehnica, moving one year later to neighboring club FCM. He made his Divizia A debut on 22 August 1976, playing for FCM Galați under coach Gheorghe Nuțescu in a 1–0 loss to Jiul Petroșani. The team was relegated after his first season, but he stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back to the first league after two years. There, for several years he would form a successful offensive trio with Ionel Augustin and Gheorghe Mulțescu, together being called "AMO" by the fans, a nickname inspired by the initials of their family names. In his first three seasons spent at Dinamo, he won the league title in all of them. In the first one, he played 32 matches under coach Valentin Stănescu, scoring a personal record of nine goals. In the 1986 final, under the guidance of coach Mircea Lucescu he played the whole match in the 1–0 win over Steaua who had recently won the European Cup. Orac appeared in 26 matches in which he scored five goals for Dinamo in European competitions, making notable performances, such as helping to eliminate Inter Milan by scoring the decisive goal of the 3–2 victory in the second leg in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup. He also played seven games in the 1983–84 European Cup campaign, scoring one goal in a 3–0 victory in the first leg that helped them eliminate title holders Hamburg and his side's only goal in the 3–1 aggregate loss in the semi-finals where they were defeated by Liverpool. In 1989, Orac alongside teammates Dumitru Moraru and Alexandru Nicolae were transferred from Dinamo to Victoria București. In Switzerland, following an injury, a medical examination revealed he had back problems. Subsequently, he returned to Dinamo for a short while, making his last appearance in Divizia A on 11 May 1991 in a 1–1 draw against Universitatea Craiova, totaling 308 matches with 54 goals in the competition. Orac ended his career in 1992, after playing one season in Divizia B for Unirea Focșani. ==International career==

Orac played three friendly games for Romania, making his debut on 29 July 1984 under coach Mircea Lucescu in a 4–2 win over China in which he scored one goal. His following two games were draws: a 1–1 and a 0–0 against Iraq. International stats International goals :''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Orac goal''. ==Managerial career==

Orac started his coaching career while he was still an active player, being an assistant at Unirea Focșani in the 1991–92 Divizia B season. He transitioned to a head coach role at Focșani starting with the following season. In 1996, he had his only coaching experience outside Romania, for one and a half seasons in the Cypriot First Division at Alki Larnaca. He spent most of his career coaching in Divizia B, having a total of 356 games, managing to win four promotions to the first league with Selena Bacău, Baia Mare, Unirea Urziceni and Concordia Chiajna. Orac has a total of 73 matches managed in Divizia A and in 2009 he was Dario Bonetti's assistant at Dinamo București for a few months. ==Personal life==

His nephew, Daniel Orac, was also a footballer. ==Honours==

Player FCM Galați • Divizia B: 1978–79 Dinamo București • Divizia A: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 • Cupa României: 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86 Manager Selena Bacău • Divizia B: 1994–95 ==References==