Ştefan Birtalan (born 25 September 1948) is a former

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 ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player, coach and sports official. Birtalan was one of the best players of his time and was named the World Player of the Year in 1974, 1976 and 1977. He spent most of his club career with Steaua București, winning with them 12 Romanian championships and the European Champions Cup in 1977. He also won the world title in 1970 and 1974, becoming the top scorer at the 1974 tournament with 43 goals. He participated in the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympics winning one silver and bronze medals.

Biography

Birtalan is of Hungarian descent through his father István. His mother was Romanian and her name was Valeria. As a teenager he trained in handball, volleyball, basketball and athletics. He debuted in handball aged 16 with the team Rapid CFR Jibou. In 1966, he moved to

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș ...

to study civil engineering. There he first played volleyball and in 1967 changed to handball. From 1970 to 1985 he competed for Steaua Bucharest, with an interruption between 1981 and 1983. With Steaua he won the 1977

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

title, finishing second in 1971, and 12 national titles. In 1966, he was included to the junior and in 1968 to the senior national handball team. At the end of his career Birtalan spent one year in Italy as player-coach in 1985–86. After returning to Romania he worked with the national junior team, and in 1991–1994 was head coach at Steaua. In 1994 he accepted a coaching position in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. Between 1999 and 2002 he again coached Steaua, bringing it to the national titles in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 he retired from coaching due to health problems, and became a sport administrator.Ştefan Birtalan
cosr.ro

International achievements

: **''Winner'':

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

**''Finalist'':

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

: **''Gold Medalist'':

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: **''Silver Medalist'':

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

**''Bronze Medalist'':

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

World University Championship The FISU World University Championships are part of the sporting events of the International University Sports Federation. Launched the FISU World University Championships in 1963, with Lund, Sweden hosting the Handball event. Championships In ...

: **''Gold Medalist'': 1973, 1975

National achievements

Player

;Steaua București * Romanian National League: **''Winner: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985'' *Romanian Cup: **''Winner: 1981, 1985''

Manager

;Steaua București * Romanian National League: **''Winner: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2001'' *Romanian Cup: **''Winner: 1990, 2000, 2001''

Individual awards and honours

;IHF * 3×

IHF World Player of the Year The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media a ...

: 1974, 1976, 1977 *

Top Scorer:

;National * 3× Romanian Sportsman of the Year: 1974, 1976, 1977

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birtalan, Stefan 1948 births Living people People from Jibou Romanian people of Hungarian descent Romanian male handball players Romanian handball coaches CSA Steaua București (handball) players Handball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of Romania Olympic silver medalists for Romania Olympic bronze medalists for Romania Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics