Adalbert Kovács (28 September 1920 – August 1999) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Adalbert Kovács was born on 28 September 1920 in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

. He started to play football at the junior squads of Electrica Timișoara, afterwards going to play for

Chinezul Timișoara Chinezul Timișoara was a football club that played both in the Romanian and the Hungarian championship during its existence. It was based in Timișoara, Romania (at the time of foundation Temesvár, Austria-Hungary). History The club was establ ...

where he also started to play at senior level, afterwards going to play in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

at second league side,

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in southwestern Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and th ...

. On 9 March 1947, Kovács made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut, playing for Flamura Roșie Arad in a 5–1 victory in which he scored a hat-trick against Libertatea Oradea, scoring a total of 13 goals in 13 appearances, helping the club win the 1946–47 Divizia A title. In the following season he helped the club win The Double, scoring 19 goals in 26

matches, including managing he and teammate Iosif Stibinger to score each a hat-trick on 7 March 1948 in a 6–1 away victory against CSCA București, it was the first time that two players from the same team scored a hat-trick in a

match and he also scored his team's first goal in the 3–2 victory at the

1948 Cupa României final The 1948 Cupa României Final was the 11th final of Romania's most prestigious Association football, football cup competition. It was disputed between FC UTA Arad, ITA Arad and FC CFR Timișoara, CFR Timișoara, and was won by Arad after a game ...

against CFR Timișoara, thus helping Flamura Roșie Arad win the first

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

in the club's history. He won another title with the club in

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

when he played three games and helped ''

The Old Lady ''The Old Lady'' () is a 1932 Italian comedy drama film directed by Amleto Palermi and starring Emma Gramatica, Maurizio D'Ancora and Armando Falconi. It also features Vittorio De Sica in his first sound film. Katz p.498 The film's sets were d ...

'' win another

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

. After 7 seasons spent at Flamura Roșie Arad, Adalbert Kovács went to play for Locomotiva Timișoara where he made his last

appearance in a 6–0 loss against CCA București, having a total of 172

games played and 80 goals scored. He died at the end of the summer of 1999 at age 78.

International career

Adalbert Kovács played three games at international level for

, all of them taking place on the Giulești Stadium from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, making his debut under coach Ferenc Rónay on 21 September 1947 in a friendly which ended with a 6–2 loss against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. His following game was also a friendly which ended 0–0 against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in which he came as a substitute in the 56th minute in order to replace Ladislau Incze II. Kovács's last appearance for the national team took place on 2 May 1948 in a 1–0 loss against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

at the 1948 Balkan Cup.

Honours

Flamura Roșie Arad *

: 1946–47, 1947–48,

: 1947–48,

References

External links

*
Adalbert Kovács
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovács, Adalbert 1920 births 1999 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II CSF CFR Timișoara players FC UTA Arad players Kaposvári Rákóczi FC players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Footballers from Timișoara 20th-century Romanian sportsmen