BIOGRAPHY
Carmen Amariei was born in Cluj Napoca, Romania, and started her handball career there as a junior player. She is now a coach back in her hometown, and is currently coaching the U Cluj men’s team — the first woman to lead a men’s handball club in Romania.
The winding path from and back to Cluj for Amariei started with early success, as she was part of the Romanian teams winning gold and bronze, respectively, at the 1995 and 1997 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship.
In 1997 Amariei moved to Valcea for her first senior experience, and she made her major tournament debut for the Romanian women’s team the following year at the Women’s EHF EURO 1998. She was the top scorer of the 1999 World Championship, where Romania finished fourth.
Her journey took an unexpected turn after being injured at the start of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. As she was unable to play Valcea did not pay her, and Amariei took advantage of a contractual clause to move to Besancon in France. It was to be a positive decision, as with Besancon Amariei won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2003 plus two French championships and three French cups.
In 2004, Amariei joined Randers in Denmark, and the following year became part of the hugely successful Slagelse ‘Dream Team’ which won the EHF Champions League in 2005 and 2007.
Amariei spent the last six years of her career switching between clubs in Romania - including Cluj - and Denmark, finally retiring in 2013 from SCM Craiova.
She began coaching at Craiova after stepping away from the playing court, and has since coached at Cluj, Rapid Bucuresti, and for the Romanian junior team.
