​Middle Eastern football has been a hot spot for players and coaches alike over the years, and the Romanians couldn’t be missing from that equation. In this article, Betano presents an analysis of Romanian coaches and players active in football in the Arab region to see what the overall picture is of the imprint left by Romanian football in this part of the world.

From the late Ilie Balachi to former Romanian national team coach Mirel Radoa, Romania has had and still has outstanding representatives on the bench from Arab football. A story that was opened immediately after 1990 with the departure of Ilie Balachi to North Africa at Club Africain in Tunisia, and was then continued in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and even Sudan.

A true pioneer, “Marele Blond”, as Ilie Balachi was called by the entire Romanian football community, became a real milestone for other Romanian coaches who followed the football path from the Middle East.

Currently, no less than five Romanian coaches have contracts with teams from the Arab region, among them two recent selections of the Romanian national team, Cosmin Kontra and Mirel Redoi.

Trainers

Undoubtedly, the Romanian coach with the best results in Arab football remains Kosmin Olerou. A technician who has coached at least six teams from this region of the world since 2007 and who has won trophies, 17 to be exact, including the Saudi Arabian League with Al Hilal (2007-08), the Saudi Crown Prince Cup with Al Sadd ( 2007-08, 2008-09), Qatar Stars Cup with Al Sadd (2010), UAE League with Al Ain (2011-12, 2012-13), UAE Super Cup with (2012) ), UAE League with Shabab Al Ahli (2013-14, 2015-16), UAE League Cup with Shabab Al Ahli (2013-14, 2016-17), UAE Super Cup with Shabab Al Ahli (2013, 2014, 2016), Asian Champions League Finalist with Shabab Al Ahli (2015), UAE President’s Cup with Sharjah FC (2021-22, 2022-23) and UAE Super Cup with Sharjah FC (2022).

Laurentiu Regekampf he also made the move to the Arab world in 2014, managing to win three trophies so far after moving to five different teams. The UAE League Cup with Al Wahda (2017-18) and the UAE Super Cup twice with Al Wahda (2017, 2018) are Regekampf’s trophies in Gulf football. His biggest regret is losing the 2014 Asian Champions League final with Al Hilal against a team from Australia.

By the number of victories won and the teams in which he played, Daniel Isaila he is the third Romanian coach in Arab football who is still active. In 2021, Isaileh finished second in the United Arab Emirates Championship with Banias and is currently coaching Ajman.

Kosmin Contra began his Arab football adventure at Al Ittihad in 2021 and came close to winning in Saudi Arabia. The Jeddah side failed to win the championship in the final stage, finishing two points behind arch-rivals Al-Hilal, which led to Hurica’s relegation. He did not leave Saudi football and has been coaching Damak since 2023, still waiting for the first trophy of his career in this field.

The latest arrival in Arab football Mirel Radoy, also a former coach of the Romanian national team. Advised by his experience as a player in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar, Radoi left Romanian football in early 2023 to coach Al Tay, in the Saudi premier league. An adventure that ended after almost five months, in which the Radoya team won four matches out of 13 played, losing another five matches. Redoi currently coaches Al-Bataye in the United Arab Emirates, being the third Romanian coach in the country’s first league, alongside Cosmin Olaruyu (Sharjah) and Daniel Iseile (Ajman).

played

Football in the Persian Gulf has always been a mirage for Romanian players due to financial offers that are impossible to refuse, even if many of them risked dropping out of the national team’s sights. At the moment, the strongest Arab leagues are developing seven Romanian playersformer or current internationals.

37 years old, goalkeeper Cyprian Tatarushanu he did not hang up his gloves after leaving AC Milan, choosing to finish his career in Saudi Arabia with Abha FC, a recently promoted club.

Florin Tanase He received an offer to return to FCSB in the summer after parting ways with Al Jazira in the United Arab Emirates, where he earned a salary of €1.8 million, but turned it down after receiving an offer from Saudi Arabia’s Al Ohdud .

Mykola Stanchu he was exceptional at Wuhan Three Towns, but the Saudis from Damac Football Club offered him €2.4 million per season, so he returned to Arab football, where he previously played for Al Ahly, also from Saudi Arabia.

Andriy Burka he left in the summer from CFR Cluj to Al-Ohdud, where he shows very good results in the position of central defender, scoring 4 goals in 16 rounds! Bourke earns €700,000 per season, almost four times what he earns at home at CFR Cluj.

Andriy Kordeya in the summer of 2023, he parted ways with FCSB and decided to go to Al-Tai Sport Club, where he will earn almost 3 million euros during the three years of the contract, training under Laurentius Regekampf himself.

Denis Alibek he moved from Farul Constanta to Muaiter Sports Club and missed the play-offs with HIK Helsinki, the Romanian champions, who were relegated from the Europa Conference League. Having just entered the first league of Qatar, offered the striker an incredible salary, $ 800,000 for 8 months of the contract!

Achievement of 31 years, Alina Toska this season he is on loan at Al-Riyadh, a team recently promoted to the Saudi premier league and still owned by Benevento.

Massive investments in football are on the rise

The strongest leagues in Arab countries are the Saudi Pro League (Saudi Arabia), Qatar Stars League (Qatar) and UAE Pro League (United Arab Emirates). Huge sums have been invested in these championships in recent years, especially when it comes to the Saudi Arabian Championship, where high-value players such as Miralem Pjanic, N’Golo Kante, Julian Draxler, Marcelo Brozovic, Fabinho, Yannick Carrasco, Philippe Coutinho play. development , Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo, the one who paved the way for big transfers in the Saudi Arabian Championship.