Nicolae Szoboszlay (18 July 1925 – 2 January 2019) 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

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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Career

Nicolae Szoboszlay was one of

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

's players in the hardest period of the club's history. In 1940, the team moved from Cluj to

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

as a result of the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all o ...

, when the northern part of Transylvania was ceded to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. In 1945, after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and the return of the northern part of Transylvania to Romania, "U" returned to its home in Cluj. During that period he participated at a game played in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commune ...

, which was postponed for one day because of a fog caused by the bombs thrown in Ploiești by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. In 1944, because of his Hungarian origins, Szoboszlay was forced to work for two months at the București- Craiova railway. In 1948 he played for CSCA București under the name "Nicolae Săbăslău", because the person who was sent to București to make his ID wrongly wrote his name that way. On 21 November 1948 he played in the first ever CSCA București – Dinamo București derby. While playing for Armata Cluj, in May 1953 after one game the team coach Elemer Hirsch collapsed on his way to the team bus, Szoboszlay tried to give him first aid but Hirsch died in his arms. After he retired from his playing career he worked as a

and as an assistant coach. Between 1976 and 1985 he was the coordinator of the Center for Children and Juniors at

where he taught and formed generations of players, which include Remus Câmpeanu,

Emil Petru Emil Petru (28 September 1939 – 1 March 1995) was a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. In his career, he played mainly for Universitatea Cluj and represented Romania at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Honours Știința C ...

, Vasile Suciu, Septimiu Câmpeanu, Alpar Meszaros, Zsolt Muzsnay,

Ioan Sabău Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 ...

and Tiberiu Bălan. A book about him was written by Cristian Aszalos, called ''Ultimul cavaler al fotbalului romantic, Nicolae Szoboszlay'' ''(The last knight of the romantic football, Nicolae Szoboszlay)'', being released on 26 November 2016. On 18 July 2013, on his 88th birthday he was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Cluj County title.

Honours

Player

Universitatea Cluj *

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 ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

CSCA București * Cupa României: 1948–49

Manager

Universitatea Cluj (assistant) *

: 1957–58 Dermata Cluj *

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

: 1958–59 Arieșul Turda *

: 1970–71

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szoboszlay, Nicolae 1925 births 2019 deaths Romanian footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players FC Universitatea Cluj players FC Steaua București players Romanian football managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers CS Corvinul Hunedoara managers CFR Cluj managers People from Orăștie Sportspeople from Hunedoara County