[6] He played in two editions of the World Cup, those held in the United States in 1994 and France in 1998, as well as two European Championships, in 1996 and 2000.

In this first managerial job, he took the team to the Intertoto Cup final in 2005 and finished fifth in Divizia A at the end of the 2005–06 season.

Munteanu had a pending offer from Argeș Pitești and he decided to accept it, despite the team being bottom of the first league after 10 games.

Towards the end of the season, due to impossibility of avoiding the relegation of Argeș Pitești, he was sacked, only to be confirmed in short time as the new manager of Liga 1 team FC Vaslui.

He came back as head coach of Universitatea Cluj in September 2008, but only after seven games he quit to go to Steaua București.

They finished first the Autumn part of the season, and what seemed to be only a flash in the pan, became one of the biggest surprises in the Romanian football.

[11] The following season, under Munteanu's guidance, Oțelul took part in the UEFA Champions League group stage, but failed to gain a single point.

[12][13] After only one month and four games in charge at Dinamo, Munteanu resigned at the end of 2012, citing the wish to follow his dream to coach abroad.