Andrei Mercea (16 March 1925 – 24 January 2002) was a

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

n football

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Andrei Mercea was born on 16 March 1925 in

Arad, Romania Arad (; German and Hungarian: ''Arad,'' ) is the capital city of Arad County, Transylvania. It is the third largest city in Western Romania, behind Timișoara and Oradea, and the 12th largest in Romania, with a population of 159,704. A bus ...

and started playing football at junior level at local clubs SG Arad and Gloria Arad. He started his senior career, making his

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut on 15 September 1946 for

ITA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County, which competes in the Liga I. The UTA acronym stands for ''Uzina Textilă Arad'' ("Text ...

in a 8–4 victory against Dermagant Târgu Mureș. He won the title with

ITA Ita or ITA may refer to : Places and jurisdictions * ITA, ISO 3166-1 country code for Italy * Ita (Africa), an ancient city and former bishopric in Roman Mauretania, presently a Latin Catholic titular see * Itá, Paraguay People * Ita (princ ...

in the first two seasons of his career, at the first contributing with 12 goals scored in 22 appearances and in the second he played 21 games and scored 5 goals, also winning a Cupa României. In 1948 he went to play for

CSCA București CSKA (Cyrillic: ЦСКА) is an abbreviation for "Central Sports Club of the Army" in several Slavic languages, and refers to military sports teams in may stand for: Bulgaria * Football clubs ** PFC CSKA Sofia, a professional association footbal ...

where on 21 November 1948 he appeared in the first ever CSCA București – Dinamo București derby which ended with a 1–0 loss. After one season, Mercea returned in Arad, winning another two

titles with

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

, at the first he made 22 appearances in which he scored 12 goals and in the second he played 24 matches and scored one goal and he also won the

1953 Cupa României The 1953 Cupa României was the 16th edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by Flamura Roşie Arad against CCA București. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament. In the first roun ...

. He made his last

appearance on 15 June 1958, playing for the '' Old Lady'' in a 2–1 victory against

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascad ...

, gaining a total of 230 matches played with 57 goals scored in the competition. Andrei Mercea spent the last years of his career playing for

AMEF Arad Vagonul Arad was a football club based in Arad, Romania. It was founded in 1911 and it soon became one of the best teams from Arad. It was affiliated to Astra Arad rail equipment manufacturing company. It was dissolved in 2006. History 19 ...

and Teba Arad in the lower leagues of Romania. He died on 24 January 2002 and a book about him was written by Radu Romănescu, called ''Andrei Mercea – Campionul care desena inimi'' ''(Andrei Mercea – The champion that drew hearts)'', being released on 18 April 2018.

International career

Andrei Mercea played 6 matches and scored two goals for Romania's national team, making his debut on 6 June 1948 under coach

Petre Steinbach Petre Steinbach (January 1, 1906 in Timișoara, Romania – 1996 in Germany), was a Romanian football midfielder and manager. Career His career in club football was spent at CAM Timișoara between 1925 and 1928, also playing for Colțea B ...

in a 9–0 loss against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

at the

1948 Balkan Cup The 1948 Balkan Cup, officially called the Balkan and Central European Championship, was played between April and November 1948 between Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. It was Poland and Czechoslovakia's ...

, a competition in which he would make two more appearances. His last three matches for the national team were friendlies in which he scored two goals against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, making his last appearance on 25 May 1952 in a 1–0 victory against

. He was part of Romania's squad at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mercea goal''.

Honours

UTA Arad *

: 1946–47, 1947–48,

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

, 1954 * Cupa României: 1947–48, 1953

Notes

References

External links

*
Andrei Mercea
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercea, Andrei 1925 births 2002 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Liga I players Liga II players FC UTA Arad players FCSB players Vagonul Arad players Footballers from Arad, Romania