Background
He was born in Brănești, Ilfov.
He was born in Brănești, Ilfov.
During his career he played for and international football with the Romanian national team Two years later, in the summer of 1986, he joined along with Florentin Petre, Mihai Tararache and others His first match for Dinamo was on 2 October 1994 in a match against rivals Steaua Bucharest.
He was recalled to Dinamo by the coach Cornel Dinu.
In a couple of years he became captain of the “Red Dogs”. He expressed happiness after defeating Steaua 3-2, and winning the championship title for Dinamo, after a nine-year break.
He was in the Romanian national team for Euro 2000, but did not play in the tournament. He played a total of eight games for the national team, and scored one goal.
That goal was also the 900th goal in Romania"s national team history in a match played at 04.02.2000, Larnaca, against the similar team of Georgia (România - Georgia 1-1).
He died on 5 October 2000, at a friendly match between Dinamo and Football Club Oltenița. In the 74th minute of the game, Cătălin had a cardiac arrest, and fell to the ground. The north stand of the Dinamo Stadium is named “Peluza Cătălin Hîldan” (Cătălin Hîldan Stand), in his honour.
He is named "The only captain" by all Dinamo"s fans.
At every game played by Dinamo the name of "The only captain" is sung by the fans with great respect and pride.