Gheorghe Albu

Albu was born on 12 September 1909 in Arad, Austria-Hungary (now in Romania), and began playing football at the age of 14 at his neighborhood team Olimpia Micălaca. He then moved to AMEF Arad where he stayed until the autumn of 1927 when he went to Gloria Arad. After one year, he joined Jiul Lupeni, afterwards returning to Gloria Arad in 1929. In the 1929–30 season, he helped Gloria reach the championship final, where he played the entire match in the 3–0 loss to Juventus București. In 1933, Albu joined Venus București, and in his first season, coach Karoly Weszter played him in nine games, scoring three goals as the club won the title. He won another title in the 1936–37 season, this time under the guidance of coach Ferenc Plattkó who gave him 22 appearances. Between 1938 and 1940, he helped the club win two consecutive league titles, both with coach Béla Jánosy, Albu contributing with 17 matches and three goals scored in the first one and only one appearance in the second. Between 1940 and 1944, the year of his retirement, Albu played for FC Craiova, making his last Divizia A appearance on 8 June 1941 in a 0–0 draw against Gloria CFR Galați, totaling 138 matches with 12 goals in the competition.

Albu played 42 games for Romania, captaining 17 of them, making his debut on 10 May 1931 under coach Constantin Rădulescu in a 5–2 home win over Bulgaria in the successful 1929–31 Balkan Cup. There, he also played in victories against Yugoslavia and Greece. He would win another Balkan Cup in 1933, appearing in all three games which were victories against Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia. During the 1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs, Albu played in all six matches as he won his third tournament with The Tricolours. Albu played in a 2–1 victory against Yugoslavia in the successful 1934 World Cup qualifiers. Subsequently, he was selected by coaches Josef Uridil and Rădulescu to be part of the final tournament squad in Italy, where he played the entire first-round match, a 2–1 defeat to eventual finalists, Czechoslovakia. Albu made his last appearance for the national team on 4 December 1938 in a 6–2 loss to Czechoslovakia in the friendly Eduard Benes' Cup.

Albu started his coaching career in 1945 at newly founded club, ITA Arad, being the assistant of Francisc Dvorzsak. Afterwards, he became the head coach of FC Craiova, the team where he had ended his playing career, and they finished the 1946–47 Divizia A season in last place, resulting in relegation to Divizia B. In the following season he worked at Dermata Cluj in the same league, but they were also relegated. In 1950 he was appointed head coach of Romania for one friendly game, a 3–3 draw against Poland. Afterwards he had his last spell in Divizia A, leading Flamura Roșie Arad to an 8th place in the 1952 season, totaling 74 matches as manager in the Romanian top-division, consisting of 28 victories, 23 draws and 23 losses. In the following years, Albu worked at teams in the Romanian lower leagues such as Textila Sfântu Gheorghe, Foresta Fălticeni and Vagonul Arad. In 1964 he settled in Făgăraș, where many years he trained the senior and youth teams of Chimia Făgăraș.

Player

Gloria Arad

Divizia A runner-up: 1929–30 Venus București

Divizia A: 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40 Romania

Balkan Cup: 1929–31, 1933 Central European International Cup: 1931–34