Paul Manta, (born in Bucharest, 2 June 1943), is a Romanian former football goalkeeper, who played for Sportul Studenţesc, Universitatea Craiova and Progresul București.
Firstly he was interested in athletics (high jump and pole-vault) and he trained in the stadium located in Dr. Staicovici Street.
Coach Cornel Dragusin noticed his skillfulness, proposing him to join the youth team Progresul-București in the group where I. Kluge was (he was 14 at that time) and he never gave up the ball since then.
In the gym halls from "Regie", he played under the coaches St. Miu and M. Maksay and also alongside Mircea Lucescu.
During the period spent in the Cotroceni team, Manta played under the coaches, V. Stanculescu, Al. Karikas and L. Colceriu.