Alexandru Ștefan Sătmăreanu (born 9 March 1952) is a Romanian former

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 ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Crișul Oradea

Sătmăreanu was born on 9 March 1952 in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

, Romania, starting his career in his hometown at Crișul, making 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 21 September 1969 in a 2–1 away victory against ASA Târgu Mureș. The team relegated at the end of that season in

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 ...

, but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back to the first division after only one season in which he played 29 matches and scored seven goals.

Dinamo București

The following season he went to play for

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

, helping the team win three league titles in 1973, 1975 and 1977, in the first he played 16 games under the guidance of

Ion Nunweiller Ion Nunweiller (9 January 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a Romanian Association football, football Defender (association football), defender and manager. Club career File:Lică Nunweiller, Radu Nunweiller, Ion Nunweiller 1963.jpg, left, 270px, ...

, in the second

Nicolae Dumitru Nicolae Dumitru (born 21 September 1949) is a Romanian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were ...

sent him on the field in 29 games, scoring three goals and in the third he made 34 appearances with five goals scored while working once again with Nunweiller. In November 1975 he scored a goal in a league

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

against Steaua București that ended 3–3. Sătmăreanu also represented '' The Red Dogs'' in 20 games in European competitions in which he scored two goals, including the only goal of Dinamo's 1–0 home victory against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

from the

1975–76 European Cup The 1975–76 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by Bayern Munich in the final against Saint-Étienne at Hampden Park, Glasgow. This was the first time that Bayern Munich participated as la ...

. For the way he played in 1977, Sătmăreanu was placed third in the ranking for the

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year (), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy (), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian player adjudged to have been the best during a calendar yea ...

award.

VfB Stuttgart

In 1979, after playing for Dinamo in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

, he remained in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

illegally and signed with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, at that time during Romania's communist regime, running away from the country was not allowed. Sătmăreanu made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 17 January 1981 under coach

Jürgen Sundermann Hans-Jürgen Sundermann (25 January 1940 – 4 October 2022) was a German football manager and player who played as a midfielder. Playing career Sundermann played his youth football with local club 1. FC Mülheim. In 1958 he signed for Rot-W ...

in a 2–1 away win over

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

, having a total of 12 appearances and two goals scored against

Bayer Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 was a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side, which had its greatest successes in the 1980s, plays in the fourth-level Regionalliga. In 2025, th ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in his first season, helping the team finish on the third position. In the following season he appeared in both legs of Stuttgart's 5–3 aggregate loss to

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

from the first round of the

1981–82 UEFA Cup The 1981–82 UEFA Cup was the 11th edition of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden, and at the Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany. The final w ...

Late career

After two seasons, Sătmăreanu went to play in the United States at the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

team

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

where he was known under the name Alexander Szatmar. In 1984, he returned to Germany to play for FSV Salmrohr in the third league for one year, afterwards ending his career. Sătmăreanu has a total of 32 matches and three goals scored in

and 223 appearances with 18 goals in

International career

Sătmăreanu played 28 games at international level 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 23 July 1974 when coach

Valentin Stănescu Valentin Stănescu (20 November 1922 – 4 April 1994) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and manager. Stănescu and Constantin Cernăianu are the only two coaches who have managed the big three Bucharest city rivals, Steaua, Dinamo, and Rapid. ...

introduced him at half-time to replace

Cornel Dinu Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spen ...

in a friendly which ended with a 4–1 victory against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He played six games at the Euro 1976 qualifiers and four at the 1978 World Cup qualifiers. Sătmăreanu also played two games at the

1973–76 Balkan Cup The 1973–76 Balkan Cup was the 11th Balkan Cup football tournament. It was the first tournament played in a knockout system with semi-finals and finals. It was played between April 1973 and November 1976 between Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Gree ...

and three at the successful 1977–80 Balkan Cup.

After retirement

After he ended his playing career, Alexandru Sătmăreanu had several businesses in Germany and Luxembourg, also working as a coach and president at

Eintracht Trier SV Eintracht-Trier 05 e. V., commonly known as Eintracht Trier (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club was established on 11 March 1948 through the merger of Westmark 05 Trier ...

and president at Bihor Oradea.

Honours

Crișul Oradea *

: 1970–71 Dinamo București *

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, 1974–75, 1976–77 *Trofeo Costa de Valencia: 1978 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. ...

: 1977–80, runner-up 1973–76 Individual *

(''third place''): 1977

Notes

References

External links

Fort Lauderdale Strikers statsAlexandru Sătmăreanu
at Fupa.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Satmareanu, Alexandru 1952 births Living people Footballers from Oradea Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Romania men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Liga I players Liga II players FC Bihor Oradea (1958) players FC Dinamo București players VfB Stuttgart players FSV Salmrohr players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Bundesliga players Romanian football managers Romanian defectors Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in West Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 20th-century Romanian sportsmen