, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was a part of Romania national football team

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

 which played at the 1934 FIFA World Cup

1934 FIFA World Cup

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934....

.

Club career

Albu started his career in 1924, playing as a youth for AMEF Arad until 1928. In 1929, he moves to another Arad-based team, Gloria CFR, and plays the final of the Romanian Championship 1929-30, against Juventus Bucureşti. Gloria CFR Arad lost the final, 0-3.

In 1933, he moved to Venus Bucureşti

Venus Bucuresti

Venus București was a Romanian football club based in Bucharest, nicknamed Negrii due to their all black shirts. Before being dissolved by the Communist authorities, Venus was the most successful football club in Romania, winning eight Liga I championships.The club's colours were black and white,...

 and in his first season for The Blacks he was crowned Champion of Romania. Until 1940, when he left Venus, he won four championship titles. Between 1940 and 1944, the year of his retirement from professional football, Albu played for FC Craiova.

International career

Gheorghe Albu made his first appearance for the Romania national football team

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

 in May 1931, in a match against Bulgaria

Bulgaria national football team

The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...

, won by the Romanians, 5-2.

Since then, he made 39 consecutive appearances in the starting lineup for Romania

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

, including the 1934 FIFA World Cup

1934 FIFA World Cup

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934....

 match against Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia national football team

The Czechoslovakia national football team was the national association football team of Czechoslovakia from 1922 to 1993. At the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the team was participating in UEFA qualifying Group 4 for the 1994 World Cup; it completed this campaign under the name...

, lost by The Tricolours

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

, 1-2.

After a short break, he was called up again at the national team for another three consecutive matches. He was the captain of the national side of Romania nineteen times. He played his last match in December 1938, against Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia national football team

The Czechoslovakia national football team was the national association football team of Czechoslovakia from 1922 to 1993. At the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the team was participating in UEFA qualifying Group 4 for the 1994 World Cup; it completed this campaign under the name...

. In this match, Gheorghe Albu's opponent, the legendary Josef Bican

Josef Bican

Josef "Pepi" Bican was a Czech-Austrian football forward. It is estimated by respected footballing statistics page RSSSF that Bican scored around 800 goals in all competitive matches, not including friendly games...

, scored four goals, as Romania

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

 lost by 2 goals to 6.

Managerial career

After the World War II, Gheorghe Albu trained a number of teams, including FC Craiova, Textila Sfântu Gheorghe, Foresta Fălticeni, Dermata Cluj or UT Arad, and was also, for a short time, the manager of the national team

Romania national football team

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...

. In 1959, he returned to Arad

Arad, Romania

Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...

, acting as manager of AMEF Arad until 1962 and Vagonul Arad

Vagonul Arad

Vagonul Arad was a football club based in Arad, Arad County in western Romania. It was founded in 1911 and it soon became one of the best teams from Arad. It was affiliated to Astra rail equipment manufacturing company...

 between 1962 and 1964. From 1964 until his death, he worked at Făgăraş

Fagaras

Făgăraș is a city in central Romania, located in Braşov County . Another source of the name is alleged to derive from the Hungarian language word for "partridge" . A more plausible explanation is that the name is given by Fogaras river coming from the Pecheneg "Fagar šu", which means ash water...

, where he trained the youth teams of Nitramonia Făgăraş.

Honours

Champion of Romania

Liga I

Liga I, or in full, due to sponsorship reasons, Liga I Bergenbier, is the top division of the Romanian football league system. Before the 2006/2007 season, it was called Divizia A, but the name had to be changed following the discovery that someone else had registered the trademark "Divizia A"...

 (four times) : 1933-1934, 1938-1939, 1939-1940, 1948-1949