Gheorghe Popescu (8 August 1919 – 1 January 2001) 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 and also a manager. He 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

Gheorghe Popescu was born on 8 August 1919 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 ...

, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1928 at Gloria. He started his senior career in 1935 at

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 ...

club, Sportul Studențesc București where he worked with coach Coloman Braun-Bogdan, helping the team earn promotion to the first league at the end of the 1936–37 season. 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 12 September 1937 in Sportul's 3–0 away loss in front of

Gloria Arad Asociația Fotbal Club Gloria Arad, also known as AFC Gloria Arad, or simply as Gloria Arad is a Romanian football club based in Arad, Arad County, currently playing in the Liga VI. The club was originally founded in 1913 by Dr. E. Veliciuiu ...

. The highlights of his period spent with ''The Students'' were reaching the 1939 Cupa României final in which he played all the minutes in the 2–0 loss in front of

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

and a third place in the league at the end of the 1939–40 season in which he scored a personal record of 14 goals. In 1946, Popescu went to play for

Carmen București ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

, helping the team to a runner-up place in his single season spent at the club. Afterwards he reunited with his former coach from Sportul Studențesc, Braun-Bogdan at newly founded club, CSCA București, being the club's first ever captain and the team's top-goalscorer with 10 goals at the end of his first season. In the following season he was used all the minutes by 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 ...

in the 2–1 victory against CSU Cluj in the

1949 Cupa României final Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, which helped the club win the first trophy in its history. In the same season, Popescu made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 November 1948 in the first ever CSCA – Dinamo derby which ended with a 1–0 loss, having a total of 135 games with 64 goals scored in the competition. Throughout his career, Popescu's style of play was often praised in the press by the famous Romanian poet, Camil Petrescu.

International career

Gheorghe Popescu played six friendly games at international level for

, making his debut on 10 June 1937, being aged 17 under coach Constantin Rădulescu in a 2–1 home victory against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. His following game was supposed to be against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

but he refused to participate because he wanted to study in order to earn his Baccalaureate degree. He scored his only goal for ''The Tricolours'' in a 2–1 away victory against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Popescu's last appearance for the national team took place on 13 June 1943 in a 2–2 against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Gheorghe Popescu goal.''

Managerial career

CCA/Steaua București

Gheorghe Popescu started his coaching career in 1951 at the team that he ended his playing career which this time was named

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 ...

, helping the club win The Double in his first year spent at the club, being aged 32. In the following season, the team repeated the performance, winning another Double. He started the

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 ...

season at CCA, leading the club in the first half of the season, afterwards being replaced with

, the team managing to win the championship at the end of the season. He returned for a second spell at CCA in 1958, winning the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

title. In 1962, Popescu had his third and final spell at the team which now was named Steaua, helping it win 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 ...

after a 5–1 victory over

in 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 ...

Romania's national team

Gheorghe Popescu had his first spell at Romania's national team in 1952, his debut taking place on 25 May when he led them in a friendly with

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 ...

which ended with a 1–0 victory. His following game was at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

where they were eliminated after the first match, a 2–1 loss in front of eventual champions

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 ...

. Afterwards he led Romania in three games at the 1954 World Cup qualifiers, managing two wins over

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 ...

and an away loss with

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

. His second spell at the national team started in 1955, guiding it at the 1958 World Cup qualifiers, winning both games with

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, also obtaining a draw and a loss with

, finishing the group on second place, behind Yugoslavia who qualified to the

final tournament 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 ...

. In his third spell from 1961 he led the team in two friendly wins over

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, while in his fourth and final spell he led Romania in a 3–1 win over

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers. From all of his four spells combined at the national team, Gheorghe Popescu gained a total of 25 games consisting of 13 victories, four draws and eight losses. After retiring as manager, he was the President of the

Romanian Football Federation Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the sports governing body, governing body of association football, football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA sinc ...

from 1963 until 1967, afterwards from 1967 until 1973 he worked as vice-president at Steaua București, a period in which the team won one league title and three cups, also from 1983 until 1984 he was a counselor at the same club.

Death

Gheorghe Popescu died on 1 January 2001 at age 81.

Honours

Player

Sportul Studențesc București *

runner-up: 1938–39 Carmen București *

runner-up: 1946–47 CSCA București *

: 1948–49

Manager

Steaua București *

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popescu, Gheorghe 1919 births 2001 deaths Romanian men's footballers FC Sportul Studențesc București players FC Carmen București players FCSB players FCSB managers Romania men's international footballers Liga I players Liga II players Romania national football team managers Presidents of the Romanian Football Federation Romanian sports executives and administrators Men's association football forwards Romanian football managers Footballers from Bucharest