Gheorghe Ciolac (10 August 1908 – 13 April 1965) was a

Romanian 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, traditiona ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

striker. He was a member of the

Romania national football team The Romania national football team ( ro, Echipa națională de fotbal a României) represents Romania in international men's football competition and is administered by the Romanian Football Federation ( ro, Federația Română de Fotbal), also ...

which competed at the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in w ...

, but did not play any match.

Club career

After playing as a youth for Politehnica Timișoara between 1922 and 1924, Gheorghe Ciolac started his senior career at Banatul, another team from Timișoara. He played for this team until 1930, when he moved to Ripensia Timișoara.Romaniansoccer.ro : Gheorghe Ciolac
/ref> Gheorghe Ciolac was the captain of the team which won, between 1932 and 1938, four

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 ...

titles and two

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, traditiona ...

s. He made his debut in the first tier of Romanian football on 11 September 1932, in a match between his team and CFR București. Ciolac scored the winning goal for Ripensia Timișoara in the first

final, but the match was contested by Ripensia's opponents,

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 ...

, which asked for playing the match on a neutral stadium. The match was replayed two months later in Bucharest, and Ripensia won 5–0. In 1936

final, Ciolac scored two goals as Ripensia Timișoara demolished its opponents,

Unirea Tricolor București Unirea Tricolor București was a Romanian football club from Bucharest, south-east Romania, founded in 1914 as Tricolor București. It was one of the most famous inter-war clubs in Romania. History Tricolor București Tricolor, first named Teiu ...

, winning the match by 5 goals to 1. Ciolac retired from football in 1941, after playing his last match against

Venus București Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

, on 15 June.

International career

Gheorghe Ciolac made his debut for the

in May 1928, in a match against

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

, lost by Romanians, 1–3. In his second match for

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 ...

, Ciolac scored a hat-trick, as

won 3–0 in front of

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 Macedo ...

. In September 1929, he was for the first time the captain of the national team, in a match against

, played on the Levski Stadium in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

. Gheorghe Ciolac was selected in the Romanian team for the

, but did not play, remaining on the bench in the match against

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

. He played his last match for the national team in 1937, being also the captain of the team in the match against

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

(1–1). He was part of the Romanian team that won three

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Roman ...

s in the 1930s, contributing with 1 goal in 1929–31 and

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

, and with four goals in the 1933 edition, being the tournament's shared top goal scorer alongside teammate

Ștefan Dobay Ștefan Dobay ( hu, Dobay István, 26 September 1909 – 7 April 1994), was a Romanian footballer who played as a striker and manager. He played for Ripensia Timișoara and the Romania national football team for whom he got 41 caps, scored ...

. This tally includes a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

in a 7-0 win over Bulgaria on 4 June 1933. With 9 goals in the Balkan Cup, he is among the all-time top goal scorer in the competition's history.

International Goals

:''Romania score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ciolac goal.

Honours

;Ripensia Timișoara *

Liga I 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 ...

(4): 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a football cup competition for Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the country's main cup competition, being open to all clubs affiliated with ...

(2): 1933–34, 1935–36

International

;Romania

: *Champions (3): 1929–31,

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

Individual

*Top goalscorer of the 1933 Balkan Cup with 4 goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciolac, Gheorghe 1908 births 1965 deaths People from Timiș County Romanian footballers Liga I players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Banatul Timișoara players FC Ripensia Timișoara players Association football forwards Romania international footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players