Constantin Koszka (17 September 1939 – 2000) was a Romanian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He competed in the men's tournament at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Club career

Koszka was born on 17 September 1939 in Arad, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club

UTA Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States *University of Texas at Austin, in the United States *University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a R ...

with whom he won the 1956 national junior championship under the guidance of coach

Nicolae Dumitrescu Nicolae "Coco" Dumitrescu (8 December 1921 – 17 March 1999) was a Romanian footballer and manager. As a footballer, he played mainly as a forward and throughout his career, he won four Divizia A titles and two cups with ITA Arad and as a man ...

. 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 1957 in UTA's 2–0 victory away loss to Locomotiva București. In 1959 he went to play for

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 ...

. In the middle of the 1961–62 season, after two years and a half, he left Rapid to make a comeback at UTA. In 1963 he signed with Steaua București. During his spell with ''The Military Men'', Koszka made his only three appearances in European competitions, helping his side get past Derry City in the first round of the

1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1964–65 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by West Ham United in a final at Wembley Stadium against 1860 Munich. West Ham's Bobby Moore captained a side that also included Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters ...

, being eliminated in the following one by

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. In 1965 he went to play for Farul Constanța, helping them earn a fourth place in the 1966–67 season while working with coach

Virgil Mărdărescu Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian football player and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 in Bucharest, Romani ...

. On 22 July 1970 he made his last Divizia A appearance in Farul's 1–1 away draw against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

, having a total of 252 matches with four goals scored in the competition. Koszka ended his career after playing in the

1971–72 Divizia B The 1971–72 Divizia B was the 32nd season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been maintained to two series, each of them having 16 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the series promoted to Divi ...

season for Portul Constanța.

International career

Koszka played nine matches 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 30 September 1962 under coach

Constantin Teașcă Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian football player and manager. Nicknamed "Little Napoleon", Teașcă was known for his controversial training methods for which he would get in con ...

in friendly against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

which ended with a 4–0 win. He played in both legs of the 7–3 aggregate loss to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

from the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifying preliminary round. His last appearance for the national team took place on 29 October 1967 in a friendly that ended with a 1–0 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 ...

. Koszka also played for Romania's Olympic team, being chosen by coach Silviu Ploeșteanu to be part of the

squad from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

where he appeared in four games, helping the team finish on the fifth place.

Death

Koszka died in 2000 in

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koszka, Constantin 1939 births 2000 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics FC UTA Arad players FC Rapid București players FCSB players FCV Farul Constanța players CS Portul Constanța players Liga I players Liga II players Footballers from Arad, Romania Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Romanian sportsmen