Dumitru Pavlovici (26 April 1912 – 28 September 1993) 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who played for

in the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

Club career

Dumitru Pavlovici, nicknamed ''Pantera neagră'' () was born on 26 April 1912 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 ...

, growing up and starting to play football as a child in the Mehala neighborhood. He started playing organized football as a

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) ** Smal ...

at local club, Dacia. He first played as a goalkeeper while he was still at Dacia in a game with AMEF. In 1933, Pavlovici went at Ripensia Timișoara where he had to compete to be first-choice goalkeeper with

Vilmos Zombori Vilmos Zombori (11 January 1906 – 17 January 1993) was a Romanian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was also known as William Zombory. Club career Vilmos Zombori was born on 11 January 1906 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Romania) ...

who was six years older than him. In his first season spent at the club, he won the

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 ...

but did not play in the

final 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 ...

as Zombori was preferred. In the 1934–35 season he won the title, coaches

Josef Uridil Josef Uridil (nicknamed ''Pepi, der Tank''; 24 December 1895 – 20 May 1962) was an Austrian footballer and coach. Biography Pepi Uridil, third son of the taylor Kajetan Uridil, was born on Christmas Eve 1895 in the Vienna suburb of Ottakring ...

and

Rudolf Wetzer Rudolf 'Rudy' Wetzer (17 March 1901 – 13 April 1993) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu of the first Romanian side to participate ...

using him in 15 matches. Next season, Pavlovici helped Ripensia win The Double, being given 14 appearances by coaches Wetzer and

Jenő Konrád Jenő Konrád (13 August 1894 – 15 July 1978) also referred to as Eugen Conrad or Eugène Conrad or Eugenio Konrad was a Hungarian footballer and manager. In the 1910s he played on the Hungary national team with his brother, Kálmán Konrád ...

, also playing in the 5–1 win over

Unirea Tricolor București Unirea Tricolor București was a Romanian football (soccer), football football team, club from Bucharest, south-east Romania, founded in 1914 as Tricolor București. It was one of the most famous inter-war clubs in Romania. History Tricolor Bucu ...

from the Cupa României final. In the 1937–38 season, Pavlovici played 19 games under the guidance of coach Sepp Pojar, helping Ripensia win another title. Afterwards he kept a clean sheet in Ripensia's 3–0 win over

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

from the first leg from the first round of the 1938 Mitropa Cup, helping the team get past the Italians. In 1941, Pavlovici signed with

CFR Turnu Severin Club Sportiv CFR Turnu Severin 1943, commonly known as CFR Turnu Severin, is a football club based in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania. It was founded in 1928 and it won one Romanian Cup in 1943. The club was dissolved in 1958, but was re-founded in ...

, winning the

1942–43 Cupa României The 1942–43 Cupa României was the tenth edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by CFR Turnu Severin against Sportul Studențesc București. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament wi ...

, keeping a clean sheet in the 4–0 win over Sportul Studențesc București from the

against Sportul Studențesc București, which helped the club win the first trophy in its history. Afterwards in 1946, Pavlovici went at

CFR Timișoara CFR may refer to: Biology * 23S rRNA (adenine2503-C2,C8)-dimethyltransferase, an enzyme * 23S rRNA (adenine2503-C2)-methyltransferase, an enzyme Organizations * China Fire and Rescue, China's firefighting force * , the Romanian state railway ...

for the last five years of his career, the highlights of this period being a runner-up position in the 1947–48 season and the reaching of a Cupa României final in the same season which was lost with 3–2 loss in front of ITA Arad in which he did not play,

Aurel Boroș Aurel Boroș (born 11 November 1922, date of death unknown) was a Romanian football goalkeeper. He reached two Cupa României finals with Universitatea Cluj and Locomotiva Timișoara, but both of them were lost. Boroș is deceased. Internatio ...

being preferred instead.

International career

Dumitru Pavlovici played 18 games at international level for

, making his debut under coach Constantin Rădulescu on 17 May 1936 in a 5–2 win over

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

at the

1936 Balkan Cup The 1936 Balkan Cup was the seventh Balkan Cup football tournament. The national teams of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania took part and it was won by Romania, also host of the tournament. The top goalscorer was Sándor Schwartz from Romania with 4 goa ...

, also appearing in the 4–1 win with

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

as the team won the cup. He was selected by coaches Săvulescu and Rădulescu to be part of the squad that participated at the

1938 World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beating Hungar ...

. He played in the first game against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

which ended 3–3, his teammate Robert Sadowski playing in the replay which ended with a surprisingly 2–1 loss. Pavlovici captained the national team in his last two appearances from 1942 which were friendlies, a 1–0 loss with

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and a 2–2 with

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Death

Dumitru Pavlovici died on 28 September 1993 at age 81.

Notes

Honours

Ripensia Timișoara *

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 ...

: 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38 *

: 1933–34, 1935–36 CFR Turnu Severin *

: 1942–43 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup (officially ''Coupe Balkanique de Football'') was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlovici, Dumitru 1912 births 1993 deaths Footballers from Timișoara Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian people of Serbian descent Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players FC Ripensia Timișoara players CSF CFR Timișoara players 1938 FIFA World Cup players 20th-century Romanian sportsmen