Ilie Balaci (; 13 September 1956 – 21 October 2018) was a Romanian football midfielder and manager. He spent 12 of his 15 years as a professional with Universitatea Craiova, appearing in more than 300 official games with the club and winning seven major titles. Nicknamed Minunea blondă ("the Blonde Wonder"), Balaci is considered one of the greatest Romanian footballers of all time. Club career Ilie Balaci, nicknamed Minunea blondă ("the Blonde Wonder"), was a product of Universitatea Craiova's youth system, where he started to play football at age 9. He made his Divizia A debut on 12 August 1973, when Universitatea's coach Constantin Cernăianu used him as a starter in a 1–1 against Jiul Petroșani at the age of 16, and he managed to win the league title in his first season in which he contributed with 3 goals scored in 27 appearances. Balaci went on to play twelve seasons with Universitatea Craiova, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation, helping them win two consecutive league titles in 1980 and 1981, at the first he contributed with 29 appearances and 6 goals and at the second with 29 appearances and 12 goals. He also won the Cupa României four times, in the years 1977 in which he opened the score in the final which ended 2–1 against Steaua București, 1978, 1981 in which he scored the first two goals in the 6–0 final against Politehnica Timișoara and 1983. Ilie Balaci played 35 games and scored 7 goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions, being an integral part of the team that reached the 1982–83 UEFA Cup semi-finals, appearing in 7 matches in the campaign, scoring 3 goals against Shamrock Rovers, Fiorentina and one from a free kick in the second leg of the semi-final against Benfica, as the team got eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule. In December 1982, he signed a pre-contract with Italian side AC Milan, but the transfer did not materialize because Romania's communist regime did not allow it. On 21 February 1984 in a FC Baia Mare – "U" Craiova Divizia A match, Baia Mare's defender Grigore Arezanov gave a hard tackle with both feet on Balaci's leg which caused him an injury from which he never completely recovered. In the middle of the 1984–85 season, Balaci transferred from Universitatea Craiova to Olt Scornicești and after one season and a half