Florin Bratu

Florin Daniel Bratu (born 2 January 1980) is a Romanian football coach and former player.

Club career
Florin Bratu was born on 2 January 1980 in Bucharest, Romania where in 1986 he started to play tennis for one year and a half, afterwards switching to football, playing a few years at the junior squads of Voința București, then moving for about one year at his childhood favorite team Dinamo București where he was coached by Iosif Varga but as he was unsatisfied with the poor training conditions that were at the club during that time, in 1992 after seeing an article in Gazeta Sporturilor that Rapid București was organizing trials, he went there and got accepted after impressing the coach with his speeding ability. Shortly after joining Rapid's senior squad, he was loaned to Divizia B club Tractorul Brașov in 2000 where in his only season spent at the club he scored eight goals in 27 Divizia B games. He then returned to Rapid where on 5 August 2001 he made his Divizia A debut in a 3–0 away victory against UM Timișoara, by the end of the season winning the first trophy of his career, the 2001–02 Cupa României where in the 2–1 victory against Dinamo from the final, coach Mircea Rednic used him as a starter until the 68th minute when he replaced him with Dennis Șerban. In the following season Rednic put Bratu to make a couple in the offence with Daniel Niculae, the team starting the season by winning the 2002 Supercupa României with Bratu opening the score in the 2–1 victory against Dinamo, finishing the season champions with Bratu being the team's top-goalscorer with 11 goals in 27 matches. In 2003, Bratu started the season at Rapid, winning another Supercupa României as Rednic used him until the 68th minute when he replaced him with Robert Niță who scored the goal in the 1–0 victory in front of Dinamo, also Bratu scored a goal against Anderlecht in the second leg of the 2003–04 Champions League second qualifying round, having a 2–0 advantage by halftime, however they did not qualify further as they eventually lost with 3–2.

In September 2003, Turkish club Galatasaray announced that they had reached an agreement with Rapid for the transfer of Bratu with the player agreeing to a four-year deal and Galatasaray paying Rapid $2,75 million. He eventually spent only one season alongside compatriots Gabriel Tamaș and Ovidiu Petre with the Cim Bom Bom side, being used regularly by coach Fatih Terim but when fellow Romanian Gheorghe Hagi came as head coach to the club he started to play more rarely, eventually being sold at the end of the season to French side Nantes for €2.5 million, signing a four-year contract. He spent only one season with The Canaries, claiming he had problems adapting to the fact that French football was relying too much on physical strength. In 2005 Nantes wanted to loan him to Romania, so Bratu went to train with his former club Rapid București for a few weeks but they did not want to keep him because they considered they had enough forwards in the squad, so he went to play for Dinamo București where in his first game coach Ioan Andone used him as a starter and he scored a goal in the 3–2 victory against rivals Steaua București which helped the team earn for the first time in its history the Supercupa României, also Andone used him in 8 games from the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when the team eliminated Everton against whom he scored a double in a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage. In 2006 Bratu returned to Ligue 1 football, playing one season for Valenciennes on loan from Nantes, having a total of 35 appearances and three goals scored in the competition.

In the 2007–08 season he was signed by Dinamo București from Nantes for a €700.000 fee, reuniting with his former coach from Rapid, Mircea Rednic with the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, scoring a goal in the second leg of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma after a prolonged sprint, leaving his opponent Guglielmo Stendardo behind and executing Marco Ballotta with a dry shot, however they did not qualify, losing with 4–2 on aggregate. He formed a couple in Dinamo's offence with Ionel Dănciulescu, the Romanian press called them "BD in action", a nickname inspired from the first letters of their family name and the Romanian movie "BD in action" and by the end of the 2007–08 season the team had no chance of winning the title, but rivals Steaua were on the first position, having scheduled a match on Dinamo's ground which ended with The Red Dogs's 2–1 victory with Bratu scoring a goal and providing a assist to the one scored by Dănciulescu, a victory that helped CFR Cluj advance to the first position and becoming champions after the final round of the season, also after Bratu scored his goal from a penalty he celebrated it by taking the corner flag and "machine-gunning" Steaua's fans with it, thus earning the nickname "Mitraliera" (The Machine gun). In the following season, after 10 games Dinamo was on the first position with Bratu in a good shape, as he scored six goals but in the 32nd minute of a match against CFR Cluj due to the difficult terrain and after a duel with the strong Álvaro Pereira, Bratu suffered a sprained knee, with damage to the cruciate ligaments which kept him off the field for about one year, being unable to fully recover after that, also Dinamo eventually lost the title that season.

In the summer of 2010 Bratu joined Litex Lovech on loan from Dinamo where he stayed until December of the same year, winning a Bulgarian Supercup. In January 2011, he signed for Liga I team Gaz Metan Mediaș where he spent one year and a half, playing only 11 league games with one goal scored in August 2011 against Voința Sibiu. In the summer of 2012, Bratu signed a one-year contract with Gloria Bistrița, where he made his last Liga I appearance on 2 November 2012 in a 1–1 against Viitorul Constanța, having a total of 135 matches with 45 goals scored in the competition, also he has a total of 29 games in which he scored 7 goals in European competitions.

International career
Bratu played 14 games and scored two goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 12 February 2003 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in order to replace Adrian Mutu in the 90+2 minute of a friendly against Slovakia which ended with a 2–1 victory. He scored his first goal in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 victory against Lithuania. Bratu played four games and scored one goal in a 4–0 victory against Luxembourg at the Euro 2004 qualifiers. He also played in one game at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, one at the Euro 2008 qualifiers and two at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

International goals

 * Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bratu goal.

After retirement
Since retiring from football in the middle of the 2012–13 season, Bratu has gone into punditry and worked for a while as a commentator for Digi Sport (Romania).

In March 2014, Bratu became the head of the scouting department at his former club Dinamo București.

Coaching career
In August 2014, Bratu started his coaching career as head coach of the second team at Dinamo II București. On 25 February 2018, he was appointed head coach of Dinamo București. He was sacked in September 2018.

On 9 August 2021, he was named the head coach of Romania U-21.

Honours
Rapid București Dinamo București Litex Lovech
 * Divizia A: 2002–03
 * Cupa României: 2001–02
 * Supercupa României: 2002, 2003
 * Supercupa României: 2005
 * Bulgarian Supercup: 2010