Marian Mihail

Mihail made his senior debut in 1975, playing as a winger for his hometown club Brasov,[2] in the second tier of Romanian football. The following season he moved to Sportul Studentesc Bucharest, where he enjoyed sixteen successive years of top flight football, making 385 league appearances and scoring 6 goals. Mihail made his first appearance for Sportul Studentesc Bucharest on 20 October 1976, aged just 18, in the first leg of their 1976-77 UEFA Cup second round against German side Schalke 04.[3][4]
It was at Sportul Studentesc Bucharest that he made the switch from a winger to a right full-back. With Sportul Studentesc Bucharest, Mihail was a Romanian Cup runner-up in the 1978/79 season and a Romanian League runner-up in the 1985/86 season.[5] He also played 16 European games for the club from 1976 to 1987.[6][7]

Mihail won five caps for Romania national team from 1982 to 1986.[8] He made his international debut on 14 March 1982, in a 4-1 friendly loss against Belgium in Brussels.[9][10] Mihail was also part of Romania`s squad for the UEFA Euro 1984 qualififying campaign, but he missed the final tournament in France.[11]

Mihail began his coaching career in 1996 as manager of his former club Sportul Studentesc Bucharest, in Romania`s top tier.[12] He then managed other two Romanian top tier sides, Brasov[13] and Bacau[14] before returning to Sportul Studentesc Bucharest in 1998,[15] relegated from Romania`s top tier.

In October 1999, Mihail was appointed as sporting and technical director at Steaua Bucharest, Romania`s most famous and successful football club,[16] with responsibility for the first team`s player recruitment and tactical scouting, the Academy, medical and sports science, and the player loan department.[17][18] During his time with Steaua Bucharest the first team won two major trophies, the Romanian League title and the Romanian Super Cup, in the 2001/02 season.[19]

In June 2002, after a brief spell as manager of the Romanian second tier side Rocar Bucharest,[20] Mihail moved to the Middle East, where he had successful spells in the top flight football, with Al-Qardaha in Syria and Al-Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

In June 2004, Mihail returned home to Romania to complete the UEFA Pro Licence course with the Romanian Football Federation (FRF).[21] During that time he was employed with the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) as youth technical adviser and helped to set up the national youth program. He also had a short spell as manager of the Romanian second tier side Sibiu.[22]

In May 2006, Mihail moved back to the Middle East, where he signed a two-year contract with the Syrian giants Al-Jaish Damascus. His first competitive match in charge was a 1-3 loss away to Enppi Cairo in the 2006-07 Arab Champions League.[23]

In June 2008, Mihail was appointed as manager of Kuwaiti top flight side Al-Jahra, on a one-year contract. In between, Mihail returned home to Romania for a third spell as manager of Sportul Studentesc Bucharest,[24]in Romania`s second tier. On 14 May 2009, at a ceremony marking the centenary of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), Mihail received the Order of Merit in Ruby for services to football.[25]

In June 2009, Mihail signed a two-year contract as technical director of Al-Wahda Abu Dhabi, one of the most prestigious club in the United Arab Emirates,[26] where he was responsible for the club′s youth academy and reserve/U21s team. Mihail`s primary focus was to develop a strong academy set up and ensure that all the Al-Wahda youth teams play the same style. Under his technical leadership the Academy won two UAE youth league titles in the 2009/10 season, at U17s and U19s levels.[27]

In August 2011, Mihail was appointed as National Technical Director of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF).[28] The position was new in the FRF at the time. It included responsibility for the overall development and direction of football in Romania. Mihail's main task was to restore the competitiveness of Romanian football. After becoming familiar with the situation in Romanian football and many analyses and consultations, both within the football family and with external partners, Mihail presented his strategic blueprint to stop the decline of Romanian football and to achieve new success at all levels of competition.[29] Priority was given to improve the quality of youth coaches, the performance of the national youth teams and to develop strong partnerships with the Royal Spanish Football Federation to promote new technical standards across the country. In only three years the new performance strategy laid a good foundation for the future of Romanian football. That included reforming its coach education system, revamping the format of the youth leagues and the success of the national youth teams program, both boys and girls, among other healthy developments.[30][31][32][33][34][35] Mihail left the FRF in February 2014, just before the election of a new president for the Romanian Football Federation (FRF).[36]

In September 2016, Mihail moved back into club coaching as manager of the Iraqi top tier side Zakho, on a one-year contract.[37] His first league game in charge was on 26 October 2016 when Zakho faced away Naft Al-Wasat, the best team in the league, with the match ending in a 0–0 draw.[38] In early January 2017, Mihail resigned due to personal and family reasons, and was replaced by another Romanian manager, Dorinel Munteanu.[39][40]

In December 2017, Mihail was named the new manager of the Vietnamese top tier side FLC Thanh Hóa, replacing Ljubomir "Lupko" Petrović of Serbia.[41] His first competitive match as manager of the team was on 23 January 2018, when FLC Thanh Hóa won 4–2 away against Eastern AA from Hong Kong, in an Asian Champions League 2018 match.[42]

• Marian Mihail at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian) and StatisticsFootball.com
• Marian Mihail at FootballDatabase.eu
• Romania National Team 1980-1989 - Details