Gheorghe Gornea (2 August 1944 – 2005) 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 Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper.

Club career

Gheorghe Gornea was born on 2 August 1944 in

Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named after t ...

and he started playing football at Carpați Sinaia, before transferring at Steaua București 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 30 August 1964 in a 4–0 away victory against Știința Craiova. In his second season spent at Steaua he won the

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 ...

, going afterwards to play for

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

where in his five years spent at the club he won two

titles, being used by coach

Nicolae Dumitrescu Nicolae "Coco" Dumitrescu (8 December 1921 – 17 March 1999) was a Romanian footballer and manager. As a footballer, he played mainly as a forward and throughout his career, he won four Divizia A titles and two cups with ITA Arad and as a manag ...

in 30 games in the first one and in 29 matches in the second one. He also helped the team by having an appreciated performance when they eliminated the defending

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

champions

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

in the

1970–71 European Cup The 1970–71 season of the European Cup club football tournament was won by Ajax in the final against Panathinaikos. It was the first time the cup went to Ajax, beginning a three-year period of domination, and the second consecutive championshi ...

season, having a total of 6 appearances in the competition over the course of two seasons. Gornea went to play for one season in

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 ...

Minerul Baia Mare CS Minaur Baia Mare, commonly known as Minaur Baia Mare, simply as Baia Mare or unofficially as ''Minerul Baia Mare'', is a Romanian football club, based in Baia Mare, Maramureș County, northern Romania, founded in 1948. It currently plays in ...

, afterwards transferring at CSM Reșița, being brought there by his former coach from

UTA Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States *University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A c ...

Ioan Reinhardt Ioan Reinhardt (also known as János Radnai; born 9 January 1920 – 6 June 1993*) was a Romanian footballer and manager. As a footballer, Reinhardt, who was a midfielder, played in 202 matches for AMEF Arad, Kolozsvári AC and Flamura Roșie A ...

, where on 11 March 1973 he made his last

appearance in a 5–1 loss against Steagul Roșu Brașov, having a total of 143 matches played in the competition, retiring after playing three more seasons at Rapid Arad in

. After he retired, Gornea struggled with alcoholism and had both of his legs amputated, dying in 2005 in his native town,

International career

Gheorghe Gornea played four games in which he conceded two goals at international level for

, all under the guidance of coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the coach of the Romania national football team during the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He is best remembered in Romania for inventing the "temporizar ...

, making his debut on 27 October 1968 when he came as a substitute at half-time and replaced

Narcis Coman Narcis Coman (born 5 November 1946 in Giurgiu) is a retired Romanian footballer who played as a goalkeeper and was selected Romanian Footballer of the Year in 1978. Club career Narcis Coman was born on 5 November 1946 in Giurgiu, Romania and ...

in a 3–0 away 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 ...

at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers in which he conceded one goal from

Jacinto Santos Jacinto José Martins Godinho Santos (born 28 January 1941) is a former Portuguese footballer who played as defender. Football career Santos gained 5 caps and scored 2 goals for Portugal. He made his debut 13 November 1966 in Lisbon against ...

. His following game was a 0–0 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, afterwards appearing in a 2–0 victory against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers and his last game was another friendly against

, played on the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

which ended 1–1 in which he had an appreciated performance, being nicknamed "The hero from Wembley". Gornea was also selected by

to be part of Romania's squad at the 1970 World Cup final tournament, but he did not play in any game there.

Honours

Steaua București *

: 1965–66 UTA Arad *

: 1968–69, 1969–70 Individual *

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the ''Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

(''fourth place''): 1968,

References

External links

*
Romania National Team 1960–1969 – Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gornea, Gheorghe 1944 births 2005 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers 1970 FIFA World Cup players Liga I players Liga II players FCSB players FC UTA Arad players CSM Reșița players CS Minaur Baia Mare (football) players Vagonul Arad players Men's association football goalkeepers People from Sinaia Sportspeople from Prahova County