times (1970, 1972, 1974) the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, also in 1970 along with Dinamo teammate Florea Dumitrache he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or. In 1979, Dinu had an offer from Bayern Munich which he refused, choosing to stay in Romania. International career Cornel Dinu played 67 matches and scored 3 goals for Romania (75/7 including Romania's Olympic team games), making his debut on 1 May 1968 under coach Angelo Niculescu in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Austria. He played three games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, also being used by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches from the final tournament as Romania did not advance to the next stage. He played 9 matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament. Dinu played a total of five matches at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, including being captain in Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against Finland. He also played in a 3–1 victory and a 1–1 against Greece at the 1973–76 Balkan Cup and he scored a goal in a 6–1 victory against Denmark at the Euro 1976 qualifiers where he played a total of five games. Dinu made a appearance at the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, two appearances at the Euro 1980 qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 15 April 1981 in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against Denmark. For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Dinu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III. International goals Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dinu goal. Managerial career After ending his playing career in 1983, Dinu became the assistant coach of Nicolae Dumitru at Dinamo București, managing to win the championship, the cup and reach the 1983–84 European Cup semi-finals. The following season he started his career as head coach at Dinamo. His biggest performances as manager were two championship titles and two cups with Dinamo, also a 1–0 victory against Juventus Torino while coaching Oțelul Galați in the first round of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup, however he lost the second leg with 5–0. He also coached CS Târgoviște,