Rudolf 'Rudy' Wetzer (17 March 1901 – 13 April 1993) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu of the first

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 side to participate in a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. He was of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ethnicity. His brothers Ștefan and Ioan were also footballers.

Career

In club football Wezter played for Juventus București (who were Romanian national champions in 1929–1930 season), as such he was a colleague of squad members Vogl and Ladislau Raffinsky. In the 1920s he had played for Unirea Timişoara (appearing, whilst with them, at the 1924 Olympic Games) and Chinezul before moving on. His last matches for Romania (played while he was playing for Ripensia were in 1932; his last match came in a 2–0 defeat to

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 Belgrade. Otherwise he played for

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburma, ...

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional football club, based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in 1905 and has been relegat ...

, Pécs-Baranya,

Hyères FC Hyères Football Club is a football in France, French association football List of football clubs in France, team playing in the city of Hyères, Var. The club was founded in 1912 and played the first ever season of professional football in Fran ...

ILSA Timișoara ILSA Timișoara (Industria Lânii Societate Anonimă Timișoara) (English: Society of Anonymous Wool Industry Timișoara) was a football team from Timișoara, Timiș County, Romania. History ILSA Timișoara was founded in 1922, with players and ...

and Craiovan Craiova. While playing in Hungary, he used the name Rudolf Veder, in Serbia, Rudolf Večer. When BSK brought Wetzer along another Romanian, Dezideriu Laki, to its team in 1924, they became the first foreign professionals to play in Serbia.

International career

During the 1930 FIFA World Cup Wetzer became Romania's team captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu. This was Rădulescu's decision in the weeks prior to the tournament. In May 1930 the Romanians had lost the King Alexander's Cup (a two team event) to

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

in Belgrade. At the time

Emerich Vogl Emerich (Imre) Vogl (born 12 August 1905 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Romania) – died 29 October 1971 in Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian football player and coach of Banat Swabian ethnicity who was a member of Romanian team which pa ...

was team captain. Wetzer was brought back into the side two weeks' later for a friendly 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 ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. This decision reaped considerable rewards for both Rădulescu and Wetzer because Wetzer scored 5 goals in an 8–1 victory for his team. Romania had been grouped with

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 ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

in the tournament, defeating the Peruvians 3–1 before losing to the eventual winners and hosts 4–0. The second of these games was held at the

Estadio Centenario Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Ur ...

in Montevideo. Wetzer was a very prolific scorer for

. He and Bodola were the top two goalscorers of the 1929–31 (first) edition of the

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 Romania, ...

(which

won). They scored 7 goals each for their country in that tournament alone. In total Wetzer was to play 17 times for Romania scoring 13 goals.

Coaching career

After retiring as a footballer Wetzer became a trainer. In 1958, during a purge by the ruling national party against "revisionism and bourgeois ideology, indiscipline and descriptive anarchic elements" Wetzer became subject to an order forbidding him from "leaving the collective in which he was engaged without good reason, under penalty of being expelled from the trainers' corps.

Honours

Player

Chinezul Timișoara * Divizia A: 1925–26, 1926–27 Juventus București * Divizia A: 1929–30

Coach

Ripensia Timișoara * Divizia A: 1934–35

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetzer, Rudolf 1901 births 1993 deaths Sportspeople from Timișoara People from the Kingdom of Hungary Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Olympic footballers of Romania Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Liga I players Újpest FC players FC Ripensia Timișoara players FC Petrolul Ploiești players OFK Beograd players Yugoslav First League players Expatriate footballers in Yugoslavia Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in France 1930 FIFA World Cup players Romanian football managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers CSM Reșița managers FC Dinamo București managers FC Ripensia Timișoara managers Austro-Hungarian Jews Jewish footballers Jewish Romanian sportspeople Romanian emigrants to Israel Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia