Mircea Costache II

Mircea Costache II (2 May 1940 – 16 February 2016) was a Romanian handball player and coach who played as a pivot for Dinamo București and for the national team. He scored the winning goal in the 1961 World Championship final.^[2]

Mircea Costache II
Costache pictured in 1961
Personal information
Full name	Mircea Costache
Born	(1940-05-02)2 May 1940 Bucharest, Romania
Died	16 February 2016(2016-02-16) (aged 75) Bucharest, Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Playing position	Pivot
Senior clubs
Years	Team
1957–1959	Rapid București
1959–1971	Dinamo București
National team
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1959–?	Romania[1]	79	(99)
Teams managed
1971–1976	Algeria
1973–1975	Nadit Alger
1976–1980	Romania Youth
1980–1988	CSŞ 2 București
1988–1995	Portugal
1995–1997	Águas Santas
1997–1998	Vitória Setúbal
2000–2001	Sporting Horta
2003–2004	CCP Serpa
Medal record Men's handball Representing  Romania World Championship 1961 West Germany Team 1964 Czechoslovakia Team 1967 Sweden Team Head coach  Algeria All-Africa Games 1973 Nigeria Team All-Africa University Games 1975 Ghana Team African Championship 1976 Algeria Team Mediterranean Games 1975 Alger Team Head coach  Portugal European Youth Championship 1992 Switzerland Team IHF Junior World Championship 1995 Argentina Team

After retiring he became a coach in his native Romania and abroad in Algeria and Portugal. Costache led the national team of Algeria to a World Cup for the first time in 1974.^[3]

Between 1988 and 1995 he was named coach of both the Portugal senior national team and the Portuguese youth sides, with whom he won the European Youth Handball Championship in 1992.^[4]

Costache was also an associate professor at the Moderna University in Lisbon from 1997 to 2002, where he coach the football team and won two championships, between 1997 and 2001, and was runner-up in 1998.

Honours

Source:^[1]

Player

Dinamo Bucharest

• Romanian League: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966
• European Cup: 1965
  • Runner-up: 1963

National team

Romania

• World Champion: 1961, 1964
  • Bronze medal: 1967

Coach

Nadit Alger

• Algerian League: 1974, 1975
• Algerian Cup: 1973

Águas Santas

• Campeonato Nacional (III Divisão): 1996

Algeria

• Winner of the gold medal at the 1973 African Games
• Winner of the gold medal at the 1975 African University Games
• Winner of the silver medal at the 1976 African Championship
• Winner of the bronze medal at the 1975 Mediterranean Games

Portugal

• Winner of the gold medal at the 1992 European Youth Championship
• Winner of the bronze medal at the 1995 IHF Junior World Championship
• Portuguese University Championship footbal 11 by Moderna University of Lisbon ( 1997-1998)
• Runner-up in footbal 11 1998-1999 with Moderna University of Lisbon
• Champions again in 1999-2000 Portuguese University Championship in footbal 11

Distinctions

• Ordinul Muncii: 1961
• Maestru Emerit al Sportului: 1961
• Medalia "Meritul Sportiv": 1964
• Medalha de Bons Serviços Desportivos (Portugal): 1993^[4]
• Medalia Serviciu Credincios: 2001
• Ordinul "Meritul sportiv" clasa II-a: 2009
• Campion de Legendă: 2009

Selected publications

• Costache, Mircea (2013). Uma vida, a mesma paixão (in Portuguese). Impuls. ISBN 978-973-8132-78-8.