Iuliu Năftănăilă (25 August 1942 – 28 August 1967) 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 football

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Iuliu Năftănăilă was born on 25 August 1942 in

Făgăraș Făgăraș (; , ) is a municipiu, city in central Romania, located in Brașov County. It lies on the Olt (river), Olt River and has a population of 26,284 as of 2021. It is situated in the historical region of Transylvania, and is the main city of ...

, Romania and started to play football in 1959 at local club, Chimia 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 ...

. Two years later he was brought to Steagul Roșu Brașov by coach Silviu Ploeșteanu who gave him 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 on 20 August 1961 in a 3–1 victory against Știința Cluj in which he scored two goals, having a total of 11 by the end of the season as the club finished on the 4th position. He remained at Steagul over the course of 7 seasons, the highlights of this period being another fourth place in the 1964–65 Divizia A season and the winning of the 1960–61 Balkans Cup. He made his last

appearance on 27 August 1967 in a 0–0 against Argeș Pitești, having a total of 150 matches played and 37 goals scored in the competition, also he has a total of 5 matches and one goal scored in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

, 9 games and three goals scored in

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 ...

and 11 games with three goals scored in the

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being ...

. Iuliu Năftănăilă died at age 25 while driving his car and crashing into a tree, on the side of the

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

–

road.

International career

Iuliu Năftănăilă played three matches at international level for

, making his debut under coach

Bazil Marian Bazil Marian (7 November 1922 – 19 January 2008) was a Romanian professional footballer and coach. Club career Bazil Marian nicknamed "Bombardierul" (The Bomber) because of his powerful shots was born on 7 November 1922 in Uioara de Sus, Rom ...

in a 1–1 friendly against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, which took place on 4 January 1947 in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Estadio Gran Parque Central The Estadio Gran Parque Central is the stadium of Club Nacional de Football. It is located in Montevideo, Uruguay, near Nacional headquarters (exactly between the streets Carlos Anaya, Jaime Cibils, General Urquiza and Comandante Braga), in the L ...

. His second game was also a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away victory against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Năftănăilă's last appearance for the national team was in a 1–0 loss against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

at the Euro 1968 qualifiers.

Honours

Steagul Roșu Brașov *

: 1960–61

References

External links

Iuliu Năftănăilă
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Năftănăilă, Iuliu 1942 births 1967 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Liga I players Liga II players FC Brașov (1936) players Road incident deaths in Romania People from Făgăraș Footballers from Brașov County 20th-century Romanian sportsmen