Vasile Deheleanu (12 August 1910 – 30 April 2003) 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 in midfield and coach.

Club career

Vasile Deheleanu was born on 12 August 1910 in Temesvár,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, growing up in the Mehala neighborhood. He started playing junior level football at local club, Unirea. In 1925 he moved to neighboring club, Politehnica where he met Tony Cargnelli which he considered the best coach of his career. In 1928 he went to play for România Cluj where in his first season, the team reached the final of the national league where they were defeated with 3–2 by Venus București. In 1931 he went to play for one season at UD Reșița with whom he reached another championship final which was lost with 3–0 in front of Venus București. In 1932, Deheleanu went at Ripensia Timișoara, winning the title in his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, coach Jenő Konrád using him in eight games in which he scored one goal, including playing in the final with Universitatea Cluj. In the following season he helped the team reach the 1934 Cupa României final, playing in both victories with "U" Cluj, winning the cup. In the 1934–35 season he won another title, coaches Josef Uridil and Rudolf Wetzer giving him 21 appearances in which he scored three goals, also the team reached the Cupa României final where he played the whole match in the 6–5 loss with CFR București. Next season, Deheleanu helped Ripensia win The Double, being given nine appearances by coaches Wetzer and Konrád, but he did not play in the 5–1 win over Unirea Tricolor București from the Cupa României final. In the following Cupa României edition, the team reached another

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 ...

in which he played all the minutes in the 5–1 loss in front of Rapid București. In the 1937–38 season, Ripensia won another title but coach Sepp Pojar used him in only two matches. Afterwards he played 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 ...

in the first leg from the first round of the 1938 Mitropa Cup, helping the team get past the Italians.

International career

Vasile Deheleanu played five games at international level for

, making his debut on 29 April 1934 under coach Constantin Rădulescu in a 2–1 home win 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 ...

at the 1934 World Cup qualifiers. After the game Deheleanu was named "Man of the match" by the '' Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper:"Our opinion is that Deheleanu was indeed the most deserving Romanian in Sunday's game. With his sober but regular game, with his perfect intuition as a midfielder par excellence, Deheleanu richly deserves the title given to him by the public as well as our trophy". Afterwards he was selected by coaches Josef Uridil and Rădulescu to be part of the squad that went at the final tournament in

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 ...

where he played all the minutes in the first round which was a 2–1 defeat to eventual finalists,

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 last appearance for the national team took place on 3 November 1935, 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 ...

that ended with a 4–1 home win.

Managerial career

Vasile Deheleanu started coaching in 1945 at Electrica Timișoara in the Romanian lower leagues where he stayed until 1947. In 1948 he won the national junior championship with Ripensia Timișoara. Deheleanu had several spells at Politehnica Timișoara in

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 ...

, consisting of 40 games of which 14 were victories, 10 draws and 16 losses, his best performance being a third place in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. He also coached Locomotiva Timișoara and several other teams from the

Timiș county Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical regions of Romania, historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Ro ...

Style of play

Vasile Deheleanu was known for his aerial play and the ability of dispossessing his opponents through sliding, a rarity at the time. Balázs Hoksary, a former Ripensia teammate described Dehelanu as a player who worked a lot for the team:"He put a lot of heart into every game. It cannot be said that he did not have a personal style of play, but he was, first of all, extremely useful to the team, he mobilized exemplary and knew how to mobilize the whole team to lead it to victory".

Death

Vasile Deheleanu died on 30 April 2003 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 ...

at age 92.

Honours

Player

România Cluj *

runner-up: 1928–29 UD Reșița *

runner-up: 1931–32 Ripensia Timișoara *

: 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38, runner-up 1933–34, 1938–39 * Cupa României: 1933–34, 1935–36, runner-up 1934–35, 1936–37

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deheleanu, Vasile 1910 births 2003 deaths Footballers from Timișoara Romania men's international footballers Romanian men's footballers Liga I players FC Victoria Cluj players FC Politehnica Timișoara players FC Ripensia Timișoara players CSM Reșița players 1934 FIFA World Cup players Romanian football managers FC Politehnica Timișoara managers Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Romanian sportsmen