Gheorghe Popescu (8 August 1919 – 1 January 2001) 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 and also a manager. He played as a striker.

Club career

Gheorghe Popescu was born on 8 August 1919 in

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 ...

, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1928 at Gloria. He started his senior career in 1935 at

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 ...

club, Sportul Studențesc București where he worked with coach

Coloman Braun-Bogdan Coloman Braun-Bogdan (13 October 1905 – 15 March 1983) was a Romanian football midfielder and football manager. Playing career Coloman Braun-Bogdan was born on 13 October 1905 in Arad, Arad County, which was at the time part of Austria-Hunga ...

, helping the team earn promotion to the first league at the end of the 1936–37 season. 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 12 September 1937 in Sportul's 3–0 away loss in front of Gloria Arad. The highlights of his period spent with ''The Students'' were reaching the

1939 Cupa României final This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

in which he played all the minutes in the 2–0 loss in front of

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 ...

and a third place in the league at the end of the 1939–40 season in which he scored a personal record of 14 goals. In 1946, Popescu went to play for

Carmen București ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

, helping the team to a runner-up place in his single season spent at the club. Afterwards he reunited with his former coach from Sportul Studențesc, Braun-Bogdan at newly founded club, CSCA București, being the club's first ever captain and the team's top-goalscorer with 10 goals at the end of his first season. In the following season he was used all the minutes by coach

Ferenc Rónay Ferenc Rónay or Francisc Rónay (29 April 1900 – 6 April 1967) was a Hungarian-Romanian footballer and manager. Rónay was the first ever scorer of the Romania national football team, giving them the equaliser against Yugoslavia in their de ...

in the 2–1 victory against CSU Cluj in the

1949 Cupa României final The 1949 Cupa României Final was the 12th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between CSCA București and CSU Cluj, and was won by CSCA after a game with 3 goals. It was the first cup title in the his ...

, which helped the club win the first trophy in its history. In the same season, Popescu made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 November 1948 in the first ever CSCA – Dinamo derby which ended with a 1–0 loss, having a total of 135 games with 64 goals scored in the competition. Throughout his career, Popescu's style of play was often praised in the press by the famous Romanian poet,

Camil Petrescu Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania. He was a member of the Sbur ...

International career

Gheorghe Popescu played six friendly games at international level for

, making his debut on 10 June 1937, being aged 17 under coach Constantin Rădulescu in a 2–1 home victory against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. His following game was supposed to be against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

but he refused to participate because he wanted to study in order to earn his Baccalaureate degree. He scored his only goal for ''The Tricolours'' in a 2–1 away victory against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Popescu's last appearance for the national team took place on 13 June 1943 in a 2–2 against

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 ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Gheorghe Popescu goal.''

Managerial career

CCA/Steaua București

Gheorghe Popescu started his coaching career in 1951 at the team that he ended his playing career which this time was named

CCA București CCA may refer to: Arts and culture * Canadian Centre for Architecture, museum and research centre in Montreal, Quebec * Canadian Comedy Awards, annual awards show * CCA, a London-based talent agency founded by Howard Pays and Freddy Vale * Capitol ...

, helping the club win The Double in his first year spent at the club, being aged 32. In the following season, the team repeated the performance, winning another Double. He started the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

season at CCA, leading the club in the first half of the season, afterwards being replaced with

, the team managing to win the championship at the end of the season. He returned for a second spell at CCA in 1958, winning the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

title. In 1962, Popescu had his third and final spell at the team which now was named Steaua, helping it win 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 ...

after a 5–1 victory over

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 ...

Romania's national team

Gheorghe Popescu had his first spell at Romania's national team in 1952, his debut taking place on 25 May when he led them in a friendly with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

which ended with a 1–0 victory. His following game was at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

where they were eliminated after the first match, a 2–1 loss in front of eventual champions

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 ...

. Afterwards he led Romania in three games at the 1954 World Cup qualifiers, managing two wins over

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 ...

and an away loss with

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 ...

. His second spell at the national team started in 1955, guiding it at the 1958 World Cup qualifiers, winning both games with

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 ...

, also obtaining a draw and a loss with

, finishing the group on second place, behind Yugoslavia who qualified to 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 ...

. In his third spell from 1961 he led the team in two friendly wins over

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 ...

, while in his fourth and final spell he led Romania in a 3–1 win over

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 ...

at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers. From all of his four spells combined at the national team, Gheorghe Popescu gained a total of 25 games consisting of 13 victories, four draws and eight losses. After retiring as manager, he was the President of the

Romanian Football Federation The Romanian Football Federation (; FRF) is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated with FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation organizes the men's ...

from 1963 until 1967, afterwards from 1967 until 1973 he worked as vice-president at Steaua București, a period in which the team won one league title and three cups, also from 1983 until 1984 he was a counselor at the same club.

Death

Gheorghe Popescu died on 1 January 2001 at age 81.

Honours

Player

Sportul Studențesc București *

runner-up: 1938–39 Carmen București *

runner-up: 1946–47 CSCA București *

: 1948–49

Manager

Steaua București *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popescu, Gheorghe 1919 births 2001 deaths Romanian men's footballers FC Sportul Studențesc București players FC Carmen București players FCSB players FCSB managers Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players Romania national football team managers Presidents of the Romanian Football Federation Romanian sports executives and administrators Men's association football forwards Romanian football managers Footballers from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian sportsmen