Carol Haidu (also known as Karol Haydu; 3 June 1942 – April 2023) was a

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 ...

n footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Haidu was born on 3 June 1942 in

Râșnov Râșnov (; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Ruusenåå''; Latin: ''Rosnovia'') is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 15,920 as of 2021. It is located at about southwest of the city of Brașov and about the s ...

under the name of Karol Haydu, but the communist authorities made him change it to Carol Haidu, in order to "sound more Romanian". He started to play junior level football in 1958 at Luceafarul Brașov, afterwards moving at Steagul Roșu Brașov where 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 1 April 1962 under coach Silviu Ploeșteanu in a 3–1 away loss against Dinamo Pitești. Haidu went to play for Steaua București in 1964, a team with whom he won the 1967–68 Divizia A title in which coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács (; ; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. Having won two European Cup titles, he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of the game. Various football magazi ...

used him in 20 matches, also helping the club win five

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 ...

. During his period spent with '' The Military Men'' he also played 9 games (including one appearance 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 European competitions, taking part in the

1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1971–72 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers, who defeated Dynamo Moscow in the final. Preliminary round First leg ---- Second leg ''4–4 on aggregate; Austria Wien won on away goa ...

campaign, playing three games as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the

away goal rule Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair * ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis * Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms * ''Away'' (TV series ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. Haidu's last Divizia A appearance took place on 9 December 1973, playing for Steaua in a 1–0 away loss against SC Bacău, having a total of 158 matches in the competition.

International career

Haidu played five games at international level for

, making his debut on 2 May 1965 under coach Ilie Oană in a 3–0 home victory against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. His following two matches were also at the World Cup qualifiers, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 win over

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, then conceding his only two goals while playing for the national team from

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

in a 2–1 loss to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. His last appearance for ''The Tricolours'' took place on 22 November 1967 in a 1–0 home win against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Personal life and death

After he retired from football, he had a period when he suffered from poverty, not having a place to sleep. Haidu died in April 2023 at age 80.

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1967–68 *

: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71

References

External links

*
Carol Haidu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Haidu, Carol 1942 births 2023 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players FC Brașov (1936) players FCSB players People from Râșnov Footballers from Brașov County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen