Virgil Popescu

Popescu was born in 1916 during the First World War, in the Transylvanian town of Zlatna, back then within Austro-Hungary, nowadays in Romania. In 1918, at the end of the war, his parents moved to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. He began playing for Novi Sad club FK Vojvodina and was part of Vojvodina's so called Millionaires team at the beginning of the 1940s. He played with Vojvodina in the Novi Sad subassociation league in the 1938–39 season and then in the Serbian League between 1939 and 1941. The Second World War started in Yugoslavia in 1941. Popescu was at the time attending the Commercial Academy in Belgrade, and by 6 April 1941, he was a second lieutenant defending the country against German forces. It took four days, on 10 April, when he was captured by Axis forces near Belgrade and taken to Romania to a concentration camp in Turnu Măgurele. After spending two years in the camp, in 1943 he caught the attention of Juventus Bucharest boss Cezar Popescu who got the news that this 27-year-old defender who had played in Serbia was in the camp 8. By explaining how Virgil Popescu was a Romanian and as such a German ally, he managed to release him from the camp and brought him to the team. He made his debut for Bucharest side Juventus on 6 October, in a match against Craiova. He made 7 appearances for Juventus in the 1943–44 Romanian Divizia A. However, not very long afterwards he entered the club offices and said that…

Player

Vojvodina

Novi Sad subassociation league: 1939, 1940 Partizan

Yugoslav First League: 1946–47 Yugoslav Cup: 1947

Manager

Legia Warsaw

Polish Cup: 1964–65 JS Kabylie

Algerian League: 1972–73