Constantin Varga (born 18 September 1964) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a defender.

Club career

Early career

Varga, nicknamed "Piticul" (The Dwarf) was born on 18 September 1964 in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club, Politehnica under the guidance of coach Bodo Carol. When he was aged 14 he went at Luceafărul București where he was teammate with

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

and

Miodrag Belodedici Miodrag Belodedici (; ; born 20 May 1964) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a sweeper (association football), sweeper. Nicknamed ''The Deer'' due to his elegant Tackle (football move), tackles, he ...

, staying there until he turned 18 and started his senior career at

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

club,

Unirea Sânnicolau Mare Unirea may refer to: Places in Romania * Unirea, Alba, a commune * Unirea, Brăila, a commune * Unirea, Călărași, a commune * Unirea, Dolj, a commune and village * General Berthelot, a commune in Hunedoara, called ''Unirea'' from 1965 to 20 ...

. After one year he went at Unirea Tomnatic in the same league. Another year later he went to play for the youth of ASA Târgu Mureș. After about half of year spent at ASA he went at fourth league team, Bihorul Beiuș which he helped earn promotion to Divizia C.

Politehnica Timișoara

In 1986, Varga returned to Politehnica where he was wanted by coach

Robert Cosmoc Robert "Puiu" Cosmoc (17 July 1931 – 11 December 1997) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Flacăra Ploiești and Jiul Petroșani. After retirement, Cosmoc was a respectable football manager, managing for yea ...

, making his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 30 March in a 5–0 away loss to Universitatea Craiova. At the end of his first season, the team relegated to

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

but Varga stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one year. In the following season, Politehnica relegated once again but he helped it once more to promote back to the first league by scoring 14 goals in the

1988–89 Divizia B The 1988–89 Divizia B was the 49th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to three series, each of them having 18 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the series promoted to D ...

season. He started playing in European competitions in the

1990–91 UEFA Cup The 1990–91 UEFA Cup was the 20th season of the UEFA Cup, the secondary club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at San Siro, Milan, Italy, and at the Stadio ...

where coach Constantin Rădulescu used him in three matches, as in the first round they got past

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

with 2–1 on aggregate, being eliminated in the next round by

Sporting Lisbon Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

against whom he scored once. He helped the club reach the

1992 Cupa României final The 1992 Cupa României Final was the 54th final of Romania's most prestigious cup competition. The final was played at the Stadionul Regie in Bucharest on 24 June 1992 and was contested between Divizia A sides Steaua București and Politehnica T ...

, coach Ion Ionescu using him all the minutes in the loss at the penalty shoot-out to Steaua București, Varga netting Politehnica's first spot kick. He then participated with the club at the

1992–93 UEFA Cup The 1992–93 UEFA Cup was the 22nd season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany, and at Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy. The competiti ...

edition where in the first round they faced

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, obtaining a 1–1 draw at Timișoara and losing with 4–0 on Santiago Bernabéu. During his years spent with ''The White-Purples'', Varga was known for his ability of scoring from free kicks, most notably scoring with a long-distance shot in a historical victory from 1987 against

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

. He also scored three goals in three

West derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...

victories against

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

Győri ETO and return to Politehnica

In 1994, Varga had his only experience outside Romania at Hungarian team, Győri ETO where he played alongside compatriot and former Politehnica teammate, Lucian Popescu. He made his

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

on 7 May as coach

József Verebes József Verebes (23 March 1941 – 13 March 2016) was a Hungarian football manager and player. He played as a forward. Managerial career Győr Verebes became the advisor to his former club Győri ETO in 2011. Nagytétény SE On 15 October 2 ...

used him in the first half of a 3–1 home win over Ferencvárosi, replacing him for the second half with

Miklós Herczeg Miklós Herczeg (born 26 March 1974) is a Hungary, Hungarian Association football, football player. He was in the Hungary national football team, Hungary national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where Hungary failed to progress from ...

. Varga scored his only goal for Győri in a 1–1 draw against

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

, making his fourth and last Nemzeti Bajnokság I appearance 28 May in a 3–0 away loss to

BVSC The Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc or BVSC; Latin Baccalaureus Veterinariae Scientiae), "Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine" (BVetMed), or "Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery" ("BVM&S" or "BVMS") is a degree for studies in veterinary me ...

. He then returned to Politehnica for the first half of the

1994–95 Divizia B The 1994–95 Divizia B was the 55th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to two series, each of them having 18 teams. At the end of the season, the winners of the series promoted to Div ...

season, leaving for the second half to go play for Dinamo, Poli managing to promote to the first league without him.

Dinamo București

In his first season at Dinamo, Varga worked with coach

Remus Vlad Remus Vlad (born 19 January 1946) is a Romanian former professional footballer and manager. Vlad played as a defender. Club career Remus Vlad was born 19 January 1946 in Cinciș, Hunedoara County, starting to play junior level football in 195 ...

, finishing third in the league. Afterwards he played in both legs of the 2–1 aggregate loss to

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

from the preliminary round of the

1995–96 UEFA Cup The 1995–96 UEFA Cup was the 25th season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by German club Bayern Munich on aggregate over Bordeaux of France. Girondins de Bordeaux went to the final all the way ...

. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 20 April 1996 in Dinamo's 1–1 home draw against

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

, having a total of 238 matches with 50 goals scored in the competition.

Late career

In the following three seasons he played in

for

UM Timișoara Um or UM may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Air Zimbabwe (IATA:UM) * Union for the Mediterranean, an intergovernmental body * United Methodist Church * United Motors Company, an American automotive parts supplier * Universal McCann, a g ...

and once again Politehnica Timișoara. He would continue to play in the Romanian lower leagues until he was in his 50s, at teams like Minerul Moldova Nouă or

ASU Politehnica Timișoara ASU, Asu or asu may refer to: Languages * Asu language (Nigeria), spoken in Western Nigeria * Asu language (Tanzania), spoken by the Gweno people in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. Also called Pare. Education ;In Bahrain: * Applied Science ...

International career

Varga played one friendly game for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 26 August 1992 under coach

Cornel Dinu Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spen ...

in which he opened the score with a free kick in a 2–0 victory against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.''

Honours

Politehnica Timișoara *

: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1994–95 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

runner-up: 1991–92

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Constantin Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football defenders 1964 births Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Győri ETO FC players FC Dinamo București players FC UTA Arad players SSU Politehnica Timișoara players CS Unirea Sânnicolau Mare players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Footballers from Timișoara 20th-century Romanian sportsmen