| Dan Alexa | |
| Birth Date: | 28 October 1979 |
| Birth Place: | Caransebeș, Romania |
| Height: | 1.86 m |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Currentclub: | Tunari (head coach) |
| Youthclubs1: | CSȘ Caransebeș |
| Youthclubs2: | LPS Banatul Timișoara |
| Years1: | 1998 |
| Clubs1: | UM Timișoara |
| Caps1: | 10 |
| Goals1: | 2 |
| Years2: | 1999–2001 |
| Clubs2: | Rocar București |
| Caps2: | 45 |
| Goals2: | 2 |
| Years3: | 2001 |
| Clubs3: | Fulgerul Bragadiru |
| Caps3: | 4 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2002 |
| Clubs4: | Universitatea Craiova |
| Caps4: | 15 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2002–2004 |
| Clubs5: | Dinamo București |
| Caps5: | 47 |
| Goals5: | 1 |
| Years6: | 2004–2005 |
| Clubs6: | Beijing Hyundai |
| Caps6: | 40 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Years7: | 2006 |
| Clubs7: | Dinamo București |
| Caps7: | 13 |
| Goals7: | 1 |
| Years8: | 2006–2011 |
| Clubs8: | Politehnica Timișoara |
| Caps8: | 126 |
| Goals8: | 5 |
| Years9: | 2011–2012 |
| Clubs9: | Rapid București |
| Caps9: | 25 |
| Goals9: | 3 |
| Years10: | 2012–2014 |
| Clubs10: | Anorthosis Famagusta |
| Caps10: | 40 |
| Goals10: | 4 |
| Years11: | 2017 |
| Clubs11: | Viitorul Caransebeș |
| Caps11: | 1 |
| Goals11: | 0 |
| Totalcaps: | 366 |
| Totalgoals: | 18 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2000 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2004–2011 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 6 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 2 |
| Manageryears1: | 2014–2015 |
| Managerclubs1: | ACS Poli Timișoara |
| Manageryears2: | 2015–2016 |
| Managerclubs2: | Rapid București |
| Manageryears3: | 2016 |
| Managerclubs3: | ASA Târgu Mureș |
| Manageryears4: | 2016–2017 |
| Managerclubs4: | Concordia Chiajna |
| Manageryears5: | 2017–2019 |
| Managerclubs5: | Dunărea Călărași |
| Manageryears6: | 2019 |
| Managerclubs6: | Astra Giurgiu |
| Manageryears7: | 2020 |
| Managerclubs7: | Rapid București |
| Manageryears8: | 2020–2021 |
| Managerclubs8: | ASU Politehnica Timișoara |
| Manageryears9: | 2021–2022 |
| Managerclubs9: | CSM Reșița |
| Manageryears10: | 2022–2023 |
| Managerclubs10: | FC Brașov |
| Manageryears11: | 2023 |
| Managerclubs11: | Botoșani |
| Manageryears12: | 2024– |
| Managerclubs12: | Tunari |
Dan Alexa (born 28 October 1979) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Tunari.
Although born in Banat, Alexa was considered disposable while at UM Timișoara in 1998, and he moved to Rocar București where he helped his side reach the 2000–01 Romanian Cup final.
After several years with short spells at FC Timișoara and Universitatea Craiova, Alexa got his big chance as Dinamo București decided to transfer him. His performances were of a high caliber throughout the two seasons he spent there, but he also got a reputation for being an extremely aggressive player. In two years, he scored 1 goal in 47 appearances.
His consequent move to Beijing Hyundai saw him leave Romania for two years. In a friendly match against Real Madrid he was selected man of the match.[1]
He returned to Dinamo in 2006 just for a few months playing 13 matches, scoring one goal.
In the summer of the same year, Politehnica boss Marian Iancu decided to bring Alexa – by then, a real "persona non-grata" in Timișoara, due to his pledge of loyalty to Dinamo – back to the city where he started his career, together with teammate Ştefan Grigorie.[2] The fans protested at Alexa's arrival in Timișoara through several banners and chants, but the club's management remained unimpressed. Alexa himself stated that he had made those statements out of necessity and that he will do all he can to prove to the fans that he is a real professional. A few months after his arrival, Alexa became the captain of Poli. He is nicknamed "the surgeon" because he inflicted many injuries requiring surgery to opposing players. On 19 April 2010, he scored the equaliser goal in the 98th minute against CFR Cluj and kept Poli in the battle for the title, however Poli finished 5th, losing their last three matches.
On 4 June 2011, the former captain of Politehnica Timișoara signed a two-year contract with Rapid București following the relegation of Poli.[3]
On 24 June 2012, Dan Alexa signed with the Cyprus First Division football club, Anorthosis Famagusta, on a free transfer. He signed a reported €250,000/yr contract with the club.[4]
Alexa was first called up by the national team in 2004. Later in 2010, he was called up for a friendly match against Italy after a six-year absence.[5] Alexa scored his first goals for Romania in a 2–2 draw against Ukraine at Cyprus International Cup 2011.[6] However, Romania were eliminated from the tournament, after losing on penalty kicks 4–2.
After he ended his playing career, Alexa became a manager. His first job was at ACS Poli Timișoara, in March 2014. Since 23 August 2017 he was manager of Dunărea Călărași until summer of 2019. Then he was named manager of Astra Giurgiu.
| Romania national team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals | |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 4 | 2 | |
| Total | 6 | 2 | |
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 February 2011 | Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus | 1–2 | 2–2 | Friendly | |
| 2 | 8 February 2011 | Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly | |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
 ACS Poli Timișoara | 17 March 2014 | 22 August 2015 | ||||||||
| Rapid București | 27 August 2015 | 20 July 2016 | ||||||||
| ASA Târgu Mureș | 7 August 2016 | 22 December 2016 | ||||||||
| Concordia Chiajna | 23 December 2016 | 18 July 2017 | ||||||||
| Dunărea Călărași | 22 August 2017 | 12 June 2019 | ||||||||
| Astra Giurgiu | 13 June 2019 | 10 October 2019 | ||||||||
| Rapid București | 11 March 2020 | 6 August 2020 | ||||||||
| ASU Politehnica Timișoara | 11 November 2020 | 17 June 2021 | ||||||||
| CSM Reșița | 30 June 2021 | 10 June 2022 | ||||||||
| FC Brașov | 23 June 2022 | 8 August 2023 | ||||||||
| Botoșani | 1 September 2023 | 2 November 2023 | ||||||||
| Tunari | 18 March 2024 | present | ||||||||
| Total | ||||||||||
UM Timișoara
1998–99Rocar București
Dinamo București
Politehnica Timișoara
ACS Poli Timișoara
2014–15Rapid București
2015–16Dunărea Călărași
2017–18CSM Reșița
2021–22