Cornel Popa (19 March 1935 – 4 November 1999) was a Romanian football player who played as a right defender.

[2][3][6] He then won four consecutive Divizia A titles from 1962 until 1965, in the first he worked with three coaches Traian Ionescu, Constantin Teașcă and Nicolae Dumitru who gave him 24 appearances, in the following two Dumitru and Ionescu used him in 25 matches in the first and 24 in the second and in the last one he played 25 games under the guidance of Angelo Niculescu.

[2][3] Cornel Popa played 27 games of which in 12 he was captain at international level for Romania, making his debut on 26 October 1958 under coach Augustin Botescu in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away loss against Hungary.

[1] Cornel Popa played five games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers, including his last appearance which took place on 24 May 1967 in a 7–1 away loss against Switzerland.

[1] Cornel Popa started coaching after 1970, working for a while at Dinamo's junior and children center, then at several teams from the Romanian lower leagues such as Unirea Alexandria, Victoria Roman and Minerul Gura Humorului without achieving any notable performances.