József Pecsovszky or Iosif Petschovschi (also known as József Perényi; 2 July 1921 – 6 October 1968) was a Romanian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er. His nickname was ''Peci''. He could play in any position on the pitch, he was even goalkeeper once.

Career

Pecsovszky played 273 games in

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, scoring a massive 86 goals. For

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

he won 32 caps, scoring 11 goals. Pecsovszky made his debut in Divizia A at the age of 16, as player of

Chinezul Timișoara Chinezul Timișoara was a football club that played both in the Romanian and the Hungarian championship during its existence. It was based in Timișoara, Romania (at the time of foundation Temesvár, Austria-Hungary). History The club was establ ...

. Pecsovszky played in the Hungarian Football Championship between 1941 and 1944 under the name of ''József Perényi'', winning the Hungarian title with

Nagyváradi AC Club Atletic Oradea (Nagyváradi Atlétikai Club) (), commonly known as CA Oradea (Nagyváradi AC), or simply as CAO (NAC), is a Romanian Association football, football club based in Oradea, Bihor County, which competes in the Liga IV. The team ...

, and played three times for the Hungary national team. His fame was such that in 1946 a Hungarian footballer tried, and even did so for a short while, to steal Pecsovszky's identity, when he recommended himself as the real Pecsovszky in order to sign a contract with

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

of France. Petschovski was suspended in October 1947 for a period of three months because before an international game between Romania and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

he bet on the Polish team. In 1952 he became the first footballer to receive the title of ''Master of Sport''. He was also the first Romanian footballer to be called to play for a ''World Team'' alongside the biggest names of football. In 1952 he moved to Steaua București for three years, before returning to Arad to play for UT Arad until 1961 when he retired from professional football. In 1961 he briefly crossed with his son Jóska, who also played for Arad. Pecsovszky coached UT Arad during the 1962–63 season.

Death and legacy

He died of cancer at his home in Arad at the age of 47 on 6 October 1968. His former club, UT Arad raised him a statue, which can be found at the main entrance of the

Francisc von Neuman Stadium Francisc von Neuman Stadium is a football stadium in Arad, Romania. It is built on the site of the former Francisc von Neuman Stadium. The stadium was opened on 28 August 2020 and currently serves as the home for UTA Arad of the Liga I. The st ...

Honours

Nagyváradi AC * Hungarian Championship League: 1943–44 UTA Arad * Romanian Championship League: 1946–47, 1947–48,

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

CCA București * Romanian Championship League:

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

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 ...

* Cupa României, Romanian Cup:

References

;Sources *Oroszhegyi Károly: Pecsovszky – das blonde Wunder, Neue Banater Zeitung, 1978. *Oroszhegyi Károly: Csala, a Szőke Csoda, Jelenkor kiadó, 2000.

External links

* *
Iosif Petschovski
at RSSSF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petschowski, Iosif 1921 births 1968 deaths Romanian men's footballers Liga I players Liga II players Club Atletic Oradea players FCSB players FC UTA Arad players Olympic footballers for Romania Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Men's association football forwards Romania men's international footballers Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Footballers from Timișoara Dual internationalists (men's football) Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Romanian football managers FC UTA Arad managers CAM Timișoara players 20th-century Romanian sportsmen 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen