Catalin Hildan

Catalin George Hildan (3 February 1976 – 5 October 2000) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career at Dinamo București, where he gained team captaincy, and amassed eight appearances for the Romania national team.

Hildan died of a cardiac arrest in October 2000, during a friendly match between Dinamo București and FC Oltenița. In 2006, he was posthumously named one of the 100 Greatest Romanians in a nationwide poll.

Club Career

Hildan first came into contact with sports at the age of eight at the rugby club Olimpia together with his older brother Cristi. Two years later, in the summer of 1986, he joined Dinamo București along with Florentin Petre, Mihai Tararache and others. His first match for Dinamo was on 2 October 1994 in a match against rivals Steaua Bucharest.

After a couple of months he was loaned to Targoviste, where he helped the team win promotion to the second division and then to the first division. He was recalled to Dinamo by coach Cornel Dinu. In a couple of years he became the team's captain. In the 1999–2000 season, Dinamo defeated Steaua 3–2, and won the league title for the first time in nine years.