Carol Haidu (3 June 1942 – 11 July 2022) 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 ...

n footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Carol Haidu was born on 3 June 1942 in Râșnov,

under the name of Karol Haydu, but the communist authorities made him change it to Carol Haidu, in order to "sound more Romanian". He started to play junior level football in 1958 at Luceafarul Brașov, afterwards moving at Steagul Roșu Brașov where 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 1 April 1962 under coach

Silviu Ploeșteanu Silviu Ploeșteanu (28 January 1913 – 13 April 1969) was a Romanian footballer and manager. Club career Silviu Ploeșteanu, nicknamed ''Ploaie'' (Rain) was born on 28 January 1913 in Craiova, Romania and he started to play football in 1930 a ...

in a 3–1 away loss against Dinamo Pitești. He went to play for Steaua București in 1964, a team with whom he won the 1967–68 Divizia A title in which coach Ștefan Kovács used him in 20 matches, also helping the club win five

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 ...

. During his period spent with '' The Military Men'' he also played 9 games (including one appearance 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 ...

) in European competitions, taking part in the

1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1971–72 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers, who defeated Dynamo Moscow in the final. Preliminary round First leg ---- Second leg ''4–4 on aggregate; Austria Wien won on away goals ...

campaign, playing three games as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule by

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. Haidu's last

appearance took place on 9 December 1973, playing for Steaua in a 1–0 away loss against SC Bacău, having a total of 158 appearances in the competition. After he retired from football, he had a period when he suffered from poverty, not having a place to sleep. Carol Haidu died on 11 July 2022 at age 80.

International career

Carol Haidu played five games at international level for

, including three at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. He received goals in only one game, a 2–1 loss against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, with both goals being scored by Eusébio.

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1967–68 *

: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71

References

External links

*
Carol Haidu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Haidu, Carol 1942 births 2022 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players FC Brașov (1936) players FC Steaua București players People from Râșnov Sportspeople from Brașov County