Iuliu Năftănăilă (25 August 1942 – 28 August 1967) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Iuliu Năftănăilă was born on 25 August 1942 in

Făgăraș Făgăraș (; german: Fogarasch, Fugreschmarkt, hu, Fogaras) is a city in central Romania, located in Brașov County. It lies on the Olt River and has a population of 28,330 as of 2011. It is situated in the historical region of Transylvania, and ...

, Romania and started to play football in 1959 at local club, Chimia 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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

. Two years later he was brought to Steagul Roșu Brașov by 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 ...

who gave him his Divizia A debut on 20 August 1961 in a 3–1 victory against Știința Cluj in which he scored two goals, having a total of 11 by the end of the season as the club finished on the 4th position. He remained at Steagul over the course of 7 seasons, the highlights of this period being another fourth place in the

1964–65 Divizia A The 1964–65 Divizia A was the forty-seventh season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Teams League table Results Positions by round Top goalscorers Champion squad See also * 1964–65 Divizia B Referenc ...

season and the winning of the 1960–61 Balkans Cup. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 27 August 1967 in a 0–0 against Argeș Pitești, having a total of 150 matches played and 37 goals scored in the competition, also he has a total of 5 matches and one goal scored in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 9 games and three goals scored in Cupa României and 11 games with three goals scored in the Balkans Cup. Iuliu Năftănăilă died at age 25 while driving his car and crashing into a tree, on the side of the

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

–

road.

International career

Iuliu Năftănăilă played three matches at international level for

, making his debut under coach

Bazil Marian Bazil Marian (7 November 1922 – 19 January 2008) was a Romanian professional footballer and coach. Club career Bazil Marian nicknamed "Bombardierul" (The Bomber) because of his powerful shots was born on 7 November 1922 in Uioara de Sus, Rom ...

in a 1–1 friendly against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, which took place on 4 January 1947 in Montevideo on

Estadio Gran Parque Central The Estadio Gran Parque Central is the stadium of Club Nacional de Football. It is located in Montevideo, Uruguay, near Nacional headquarters (exactly between the streets Carlos Anaya, Jaime Cibils, General Urquiza and Comandante Braga), in the ...

. His second game was also a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away victory against

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 ...

. Năftănăilă's last appearance for the national team was in a 1–0 loss against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

at the Euro 1968 qualifiers.

Honours

Steagul Roșu Brașov * Balkans Cup: 1960–61

References

External links

Iuliu Năftănăilă
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Năftănăilă, Iuliu 1942 births 1967 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Liga I players Liga II players FC Brașov (1936) players Road incident deaths in Romania People from Făgăraș Sportspeople from Brașov County