Anton Munteanu (3 July 1932 – 22 May 2007) was a Romanian

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 le ...

Club career

Anton Munteanu was born on 3 July 1932 in

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 ...

and spent his entire career from junior to senior level playing alongside his twin brother Dumitru Munteanu, both of them being known for their

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

abilities and spectacular play. He grew up in

Dămăroaia Dămăroaia is a district in the north side of Bucharest, Romania in Sector 1. It covers about , making it one of the largest neighborhoods of Sector 1. RATB bus 331 and tram 24 serve the area. Prior to 1918, when it was purchased by the governm ...

and started to play junior level football at the local club, afterwards going at Laromet București, before moving at CCA Cluj where he spent only two weeks, then he joined Gloria Bistrița, a team he helped reach in 1954 a promotion play-off to

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often 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 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

which was eventually lost. He 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 on 10 April 1955, playing for

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 ...

in a 9–1 away victory against Avântul Reghin in which he scored a goal. In 1956 he went to play for Petrolul Ploiești where he spent 7 seasons in which he helped the club win the 1962–63 Cupa României, scoring a goal in the 6–1 victory from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Siderurgistul Galați Siderurgistul Galați was a football club based in Galaţi, Galați County, Romania. It was founded in 1955 and dissolved in 1967. History In 1955 Dinamo Galați is founded and in 1961 the club was renamed CSO Galați, and one year later rena ...

. In 1958, he and his brother were banned for life from playing football because they were considered "rebels" and "bourgeois elements" by the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, but after one year they were allowed to play again. In 1961 after Petrolul played a friendly against Brazilian team, Grêmio Porto Alegre which ended with a 4–3 victory in which he and his brother were appreciated for their play, they were nicknamed "The Brazilians". Munteanu made his last

appearance playing for '' The Yellow Wolves'' on 1 November 1964 in a 1–0 away loss against Steaua București. He has a total of 119 matches played and 36 goals scored in

, 14 matches and five goals scored in

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 ...

and 9 games in European competitions in which he scored one goal (including 6 appearances and one goal in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

). Anton Dumitru died on 22 May 2007 at age 73.

International career

Anton Munteanu made one appearance for Romania's national team being used by coach

Gheorghe Popescu I Gheorghe Popescu (8 August 1919 – 1 January 2001) was a Romanian footballer and also a manager. He played as a striker. International career Gheorghe Popescu I played 6 friendly games at international level for Romania, making his debut und ...

as a starter, playing until the 80th minute when he was replaced by

Alexandru Ene Alexandru Ene (also known as Alexandru Ene I; 19 September 1928 – 22 May 2011) was a Romanian football striker. Club career Alexandru Ene was born on 19 September 1928 in Brăila, Romania and he started playing football at junior level at Ol ...

in a friendly against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

which ended with a 2–0 loss.

Honours

CCA București *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1962–63

References

External links

Anton Munteanu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Anton 1932 births 2007 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players ACF Gloria Bistrița players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FCSB players Footballers from Bucharest Romanian twins