Zoltán Beke ''()'' (30 July 1911 – 5 March 1994) 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 ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

of Hungarian ethnicity who played as a striker. He was a member of

's team that competed in the

1934 World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in whi ...

, but he did not play in any match.

Club career

Beke was born on 30 July 1911 in Fehértemplom,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now Serbia). He grew up and started to play football in the Mehala neighborhood of

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 ...

, Romania. In 1925 he began playing junior-level football at

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 ...

. Three years later he started his senior career at Chinezul. In 1930, Beke joined Ripensia Timișoara 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 on 11 September 1932 in a 3–2 away loss to

CFR București CFR may refer to: Biology * 23S rRNA (adenine2503-C2,C8)-dimethyltransferase, an enzyme * 23S rRNA (adenine2503-C2)-methyltransferase, an enzyme Organizations * China Fire and Rescue, China's firefighting force * , the Romanian state railway ...

. He won the title in his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, as coach

Jenő Konrád Jenő Konrád (13 August 1894 – 15 July 1978) also referred to as Eugen Conrad or Eugène Conrad or Eugenio Konrad was a Hungarian footballer and manager. In the 1910s he played on the Hungary national team with his brother, Kálmán Konrád ...

used him in four games in which he scored once. In the following season he helped the team reach the

1934 Cupa României final The 1934 Cupa României Final was the first final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Ripensia Timișoara and Universitatea Cluj, and was initially played on 8 September 1934 in Timișoara. After los ...

, playing in the first leg against

Universitatea Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

, which led to them winning the cup. In the 1934–35 season he won another title, coaches

Josef Uridil Josef Uridil (nicknamed ''Pepi, der Tank''; 24 December 1895 – 20 May 1962) was an Austrian footballer and coach. Biography Pepi Uridil, third son of the taylor Kajetan Uridil, was born on Christmas Eve 1895 in the Vienna suburb of Ottakring ...

and

Rudolf Wetzer 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 Romanian side to participate ...

giving him 14 appearances in which he scored three goals, also the team reached the Cupa României final where he played the entire match in the 6–5 loss to CFR București. Next season, Beke helped Ripensia win The Double, being given 12 appearances in which he netted five goals by coaches Wetzer and Konrád, and he played in the 5–1 win over

Unirea Tricolor București Unirea Tricolor București was a Romanian football (soccer), football football team, club from Bucharest, south-east Romania, founded in 1914 as Tricolor București. It was one of the most famous inter-war clubs in Romania. History Tricolor Bucu ...

in the Cupa României final. In the following

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 ...

edition, the team reached another

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

but he did not play in the 5–1 loss to

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

. In the 1937–38 season, Ripensia won another title but coach Sepp Pojar used him in only seven matches in which he netted one goal. Afterwards he played in Ripensia's 3–0 win over

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

in the first leg of the first round of the 1938 Mitropa Cup, helping the team get past the Italians. He made his last Divizia A appearance in a 2–2 draw against Gloria Arad, having a total of 89 matches with 21 goals scored in the competition, all of them for Ripensia. In 1942, Beke joined

CFR Turnu Severin Club Sportiv CFR Turnu Severin 1943, commonly known as CFR Turnu Severin, is a football club based in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania. It was founded in 1928 and it won one Romanian Cup in 1943. The club was dissolved in 1958, but was re-founded in ...

where he was a player-coach, helping the club win the

1942–43 Cupa României The 1942–43 Cupa României was the tenth edition of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. The title was won by CFR Turnu Severin against Sportul Studențesc București. Format The competition is an annual knockout tournament wi ...

, though he did not play in the

. Afterwards he went to play for Kolozsvári VSC, making his

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

debut on 22 August 1943 under coach

Zoltán Opata Zoltán Opata (also known as Zoltán Patai or Ormos Patai; 24 September 1900 – 19 May 1982) was a Hungarian football player and manager. As a player, he won six Hungarian league championships with Budapest-based side MTK in the 1920s and re ...

in a 3–1 home win against

Diósgyőr Diósgyőr (Hungarian: Help:IPA/Hungarian, �dioːʒɟøːr is a historical town in Hungary, today it is a part of Miskolc. The medieval castle in Diósgyőr was a favourite holiday residence of Hungarian kings and queens; today it is a popular t ...

. He made a total of 13 league appearances, netting seven goals, including a double in his last game which was a 3–0 victory against BSZKRT. Kolozsvári also reached the

1943–44 Magyar Kupa The 1943–44 Magyar Kupa (English: ''Hungarian Cup'') was the 21st season of 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, Ukrai ...

final but he did not play in the defeat to

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

.
Beke ended his career by playing in the

1946–47 Divizia B The 1946–47 Divizia B was the eighth season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The league was resumed after five years in which was suspended due to World War II. The format of three series was maintained, but this time ...

season for CFR Turnu Severin.

International career

Beke was selected by coaches Constantin Rădulescu and

to be part of

's squad that went to the

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 ...

but remained on the bench in the 2–1 defeat to eventual finalists,

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 ...

in the first round. He played six matches for the national team, making his debut on 25 August 1934 under coach Rădulescu in a friendly which ended with a 4–2 away loss to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He helped the team win the

1936 Balkan Cup The 1936 Balkan Cup was the seventh Balkan Cup football tournament. The national teams of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania took part and it was won by Romania, also host of the tournament. The top goalscorer was Sándor Schwartz from Romania with 4 goa ...

, playing in two victories 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 ...

and

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 ...

. His last appearance for ''The Tricolours'' was in a friendly which took place on 10 June 1937 and ended with a 2–1 home win over

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Managerial career

Beke's first coaching spell started in 1942 when he was a player-coach at

, helping the club win the

after a 4–0 victory against Sportul Studențesc București in the

. Afterwards he trained the youth teams of Știința Timișoara. For five years, between 1965 and 1970, he trained IRA Timișoara in the municipal championship.

Death

Beke died on 5 March 1994 in

, Romania at age 82.

Honours

Player

Ripensia Timișoara *

: 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38, runner-up 1933–34, 1938–39 *

: 1933–34, 1935–36, runner-up 1934–35, 1936–37 CFR Turnu Severin *

: 1942–43 Kolozsvári VSC *

Magyar Kupa The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

runner-up: 1943–44 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup (officially ''Coupe Balkanique de Football'') 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. ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

Manager

CFR Turnu Severin *

: 1942–43

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beke, Zoltan 1911 births 1994 deaths Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Romania men's international footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players Hungarians in Vojvodina Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Liga I players Liga II players Chinezul Timișoara players FC Ripensia Timișoara players CFR Turnu Severin players Footballers from South Banat District Romanian football managers 20th-century Romanian sportsmen