Ştefan Birtalan (25 September 1948 – 27 May 2024) was a Romanian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

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 2 bronze medals.

Biography

Birtalan was of Hungarian descent through his parents István and 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 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 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 men's com ...

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. 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 Birtalan died on 27 May 2024, at the age of 75.

International achievements

: **''Winner'':

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, 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 (no ...

**''Finalist'':

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

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 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, 1974 * Summer Olympics: **''Silver Medalist'':

1976 Events January * January 2 – 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 18 – Full diplomatic ...

**''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, ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

* World University Championship: **''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: 1974, 1976, 1977 *

Top Scorer: 1974 * Summer Olympics Top Scorer:

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

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birtalan, Stefan 1948 births 2024 deaths People from Jibou 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 for 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 Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Sportspeople from Sălaj County Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian expatriate handball players Expatriate handball coaches Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar 20th-century Romanian sportsmen