Emerich Jenei

Emerich Jenei began his playing career in Arad, then in 1957 he was signed by Steaua Bucharest, where he played until 1969, winning the championship three times. Between 1969 and 1971 Jenei played for the Turkish team Kayserispor, and between 1959 and 1964 he played 12 times for the Romanian national team. In 1964 he was a member of the team that participated in the Tokyo Olympics.

After Turkey, Jenei retired and joined Steaua as an assistant coach. In 1975 he became head coach and in 1976 won his first championship title. During his activities in Romania, he returned to Steaua several times, and was the coach of several smaller teams. As the coach of Steaua he won five championship titles and four Romanian Cups. The peak of his club coaching career was winning the 1986 European Cup final against the favourites FC Barcelona. Jenei was also the coach of the Romanian national team twice. Under his leadership, Romania participated in two major tournaments: the 1990 World Cup and Euro 2000. At the 1990 World Cup, Romania was only eliminated in a penalty shootout against Ireland in the round of 16.

Jenei was the coach of the Hungarian national football team in 1992-1993. In 1997-1998 he was the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports. He retired from coaching in 2000, after which he was the president of FC Bihor and worked for the Romanian Football Federation.

His second wife, Ilona Gyulai, was a world champion and Olympic fencer.