Gheorghe Băcuț (also known as Gheorghe Băcuț I; 12 July 1927 – 24 July 1974) 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 ...

n footballer who played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Gheorghe Băcuț was born on 12 July 1927 in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

, starting to play junior level football at local clubs, Stăruința and

Libertatea (; "Freedom") is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper ...

. In 1946 he started his senior career at ITA Arad where he 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 under coach Zoltán Opata on 25 August in a 5–1 away win against his former club, Libertatea, by the end of the season he played a total of 24 games with one goal scored, helping the club win the first title in its history. In the following season he helped ''The Old Lady'' win The Double, being used by coach Petre Steinbach in 26 matches in which he scored four goals, also playing all the minutes in the 3–2 victory from 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. In 1950 Băcuț went to play for

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

, his first performance with the club was reaching the

1954 Cupa României final Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

where coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach at the 1970 World Cup and for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics ...

used him all the minutes in the eventual 2–0 loss in front of Metalul Reșița, then in the following season he helped the club win the first

title in its history, being used by Niculescu in 24 matches. He then played in the first European match of a Romanian team in the

1956–57 European Cup The 1956–57 European Cup was the second season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won for the second time by Real Madrid, who beat Fiorentina 2–0 in the final at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid ...

in the 3–1 victory against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, helping ''The Red Dogs'' go to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia against whom he scored a goal, Băcuț playing three games in the campaign. In 1957 Băcuț returned to his hometown to play for CS Oradea where on 15 June 1958 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 3–0 away loss against his former team, Dinamo București, having a total of 237 matches with eight goals scored in the competition. In 1958, he and other players were banned from playing football by the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

because of "their lack of responsibility resulted in liberalist tendencies", but after one year he was allowed to play again. He retired in 1961 after playing two seasons in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

for CS Oradea.

International career

Gheorghe Băcuț played in 28 matches at international level for

, making his debut under coach Coloman Braun-Bogdan on 30 September 1945 in a friendly against

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 ...

which ended with a 7–2 loss. He played in a 2–1 victory at the

1946 Balkan Cup The 1946 Balkan Cup was the 8th edition of this tournament. The participanting teams were Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and for the first time ever, Albania, who ended up winning the tournament in their first try. Squads *The four men's nationa ...

against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, made three appearances at the

1947 Balkan Cup The 1947 Balkan Cup, officially called the Balkan and Central European Championship, was played between May and October 1947 between Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungary. It was Hungary's first participation in the tournament (which ...

, scoring one goal in a 3–2 victory against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and played another four games at the 1948 Balkan Cup. Băcuț also played in three games at the 1954 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team on 10 September 1956 in a 2–0 away loss with Bulgaria in which he was for the first time the team's captain.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after each Gheorghe Băcuț goal.''

Personal life

His brother,

Ladislau Băcuț Ladislau Băcuț (also known as Ladislau Băcuț II; 12 November 1931 – 1996) was a Romanian football defender and manager. His brother, Gheorghe Băcuț was also a footballer, they played together at ITA Arad and Dinamo București. Honours ...

was also a footballer, they played together at ITA Arad and

Death

Gheorghe Băcuț died on 24 July 1974 at age 47 in his native town, Oradea.

Honours

ITA Arad *

: 1946–47, 1947–48 *

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 ...

: 1947–48 Dinamo București *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

runner-up:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacut, Gheorghe 1927 births 1974 deaths Footballers from Oradea Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players Liga II players FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players Club Atletic Oradea players 20th-century Romanian sportsmen