Adalbert Kovács (28 September 1920 – August 1999) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

football player 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 le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Club career

Adalbert Kovács was born on 28 September 1920 in Timișoara,

. He started to play football at the junior squads of Electrica Timișoara, afterwards going to play for

Chinezul Timișoara Chinezul Timișoara was a football club that played both in the Romanian and the Hungarian championship during its existence. It was based in Timișoara, Romania (at the time of foundation Temesvár, Austria-Hungary). History The club was establ ...

where he also started to play at senior level, afterwards going to play in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the 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 a ...

at second league side,

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvá ...

. On 9 March 1947, Kovács made his

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut, playing for Flamura Roșie Arad in a 5–1 victory in which he scored a hat-trick against Libertatea Oradea, scoring a total of 13 goals in 13 appearances, helping the club win the

1946–47 Divizia A The 1946–47 Divizia A was the thirtieth season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Teams League table Results Results by round Top goalscorers Champion squad See also * 1946–47 Divizia B References ...

title. In the following season he helped the club win The Double, scoring 19 goals in 26

matches, including managing he and teammate Iosif Stibinger to score each a hat-trick on 7 March 1948 in a 6–1 away victory against CSCA București, it was the first time that two players from the same team scored a hat-trick in a

match and he also scored his team's first goal in the 3–2 victory at the 1948 Cupa României final against

CFR Timișoara CFR may refer to: * Caen – Carpiquet Airport in northern France * Căile Ferate Române, the Romanian state railway * Canadian Finals Rodeo * Case fatality rate, term for proportion of people dying of a disease * Centre for Foreign Relations, ...

, thus helping Flamura Roșie Arad win the first

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) 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. I ...

in the club's history. He won another title with the club 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 cr ...

when he played three games and helped ''

The Old Lady ''The Old Lady'' ( it, La vecchia signora) is a 1932 Italian comedy film directed by Amleto Palermi. It features Vittorio De Sica in his first sound film. Cast * Emma Gramatica as Maria * Nella Maria Bonora as Bianchina * Maurizio D'Ancora as ...

'' win another

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 i ...

. After 7 seasons spent at Flamura Roșie Arad, Adalbert Kovács went to play for Locomotiva Timișoara where he made his last

appearance in a 6–0 loss against

CCA București CCA may refer to: Organisations *Canadian Cat Association *Canadian Cattlemen's Association, an advocacy group for the Canadian beef industry *Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec * Canadian Council on Africa * Center for Contemporar ...

, having a total of 172

games played and 80 goals scored. He died at the end of the summer of 1999 at age 78.

International career

Adalbert Kovács played three games at international level for

, all of them taking place on the Giulești Stadium from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, making his debut under 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 d ...

on 21 September 1947 in a friendly which ended with a 6–2 loss against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. His following game was also a friendly which ended 0–0 against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in which he came as a substitute in the 56th minute in order to replace

Ladislau Incze II Ladislau "László" Incze II (17 October 1918 – 1969) was a Romanian footballer of Hungarian descent who played as a forward for teams such as Mureșul Târgu Mureș, Nagyváradi AC or Locomotiva Târgu Mureș, among others.Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at the

1948 Balkan Cup The 1948 Balkan Cup, officially called the Balkan and Central European Championship, was played between April and November 1948 between Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. It was Poland and Czechoslovakia's ...

Honours

Flamura Roșie Arad *

: 1946–47, 1947–48,

: 1947–48,

References

External links

*
Adalbert Kovács
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovács, Adalbert 1920 births 1999 deaths Romanian footballers Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II CSF CFR Timișoara players FC UTA Arad players Kaposvári Rákóczi FC players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Footballers from Timișoara