Augustin Pax "Coco" Deleanu (23 August 1944 – 27 March 2014) was a Romanian footballer, who played as a left back.

Club career

Augustin Pax Deleanu, nicknamed "Coco" was born on 23 August 1944 in

Măgurele Măgurele is a town situated in the southwestern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It has a population of 14,414 as of 2021 and hosts several research institutes. In 2024, new buses were donated from the Voluntari district. It is rapidly ...

, Romania and started to play football in 1960 at the junior squads of Steaua București. He made 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 24 November 1963, playing for Politehnica Iași in a 1–0 victory against Petrolul Ploiești. He spent six seasons at Politehnica, a period in which the club had a relegation 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 he stayed with the team, helping it gain promotion back to the first league after one season. In 1968, he went to play for

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 ...

where his first performances was reaching two

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 ...

finals in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, playing all the minutes in both which were lost in front of

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Steaua București. He won three league titles with '' The Red Dogs'' in 1971, 1973 and 1975, in the first he contributed with three goals scored in the 27 matches he was used by coaches

Nicolae Dumitru Nicolae Dumitru (born 21 September 1949) is a Romanian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were ...

and

Traian Ionescu Traian Ionescu (17 July 1923 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and coach. Club career Ionescu was born on 17 July 1923 in Văleni, Argeș County, Romania and started to play junior level football at age 13 at TC Târgoviș ...

, in the second he played 23 games under the guidance of

Ion Nunweiller Ion Nunweiller (9 January 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a Romanian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender and manager. Club career File:Lică Nunweiller, Radu Nunweiller, Ion Nunweiller 1963.jpg, left, 270px, ...

and in the third he made 33 appearances while working once again with Dumitru. He spent seven seasons at Dinamo in which he appeared in 16 matches in European competitions (including four in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

). In 1976, Deleanu went to play for

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est * A village in Țuglui Țuglui is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, ...

where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 30 June 1977 in a 2–0 loss in front of Universitatea Craiova, having a total of 325 matches played and 18 goals scored in the competition.

International career

Deleanu played 25 games without scoring 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 ...

, making his debut on 26 November 1966 under coach

Ilie Oană Ilie Oană (16 August 1918 – 27 April 1993) was a football player and manager. Club career Ilie Oană was born on 16 August 1918, being nicknamed "Americanul" ''(The American)'' because his place of birth was in Indiana Harbor to Romanian pa ...

in a 3–1 loss in front of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

at the 1968 Euro qualifiers, where he would also make his second appearance for the national team in a 5–1 victory against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He played four games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, being selected by coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach at the 1970 World Cup and for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics ...

to be part of the squad for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

where he did not play. He played five matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

where Romania was defeated by

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, who advanced to the

. Augustin Deleanu played a total of five matches at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, including his last appearance for the national team which took place on 14 October 1973 in Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Deleanu was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

After retirement

After he ended his playing career, Deleanu became a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, arbitrating matches in Romania's top-league

and had different administration positions at

, between 1990 and 1994 being the vice-president of the club.

Death

Deleanu died on 27 March 2014, at the age of 69 at

Floreasca Hospital Floreasca Hospital () is a major hospital located at 8 Calea Floreasca, Bucharest, Romania. The hospital is specialized in providing emergency medical care. History The Floreasca Hospital is the first institution in Romania specialized in providi ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Honours

Politehnica Iași *

: 1967–68 Dinamo București *

: 1970–71,

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, 1974–75 *

: runner-up 1969–70, 1970–71

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deleanu, Augustin 1944 births 2014 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers People from Măgurele Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players 1970 FIFA World Cup players FCSB players FC Politehnica Iași (1945) players FC Dinamo București players CSM Jiul Petroșani players Romanian football referees Romanian sports executives and administrators Footballers from Ilfov County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen