# Gheorghe Albu

Gheorghe Albu (12 September 1909 – 26 June 1974) was a Romanian football player and manager. He participated with Romania's national team at the 1934 World Cup.

## Club career

Gheorghe Albu was born on 12 September 1909 in Arad, Austria-Hungary (now in Romania), starting to play 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 went at Jiul Lupeni, afterwards returning to Gloria Arad in 1929 where in the 1929–30 season he helped the team reach the championship final where he played all the minutes in the 3–0 loss in front of Juventus București.
In 1933, Albu went to play for Venus București where in his first season, coach Karoly Weszter used him in nine games in which he scored 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 from professional football, Albu played for FC Craiova, making his last Divizia A appearance on 8 June 1941 in a 0–0 with Gloria CFR Galați, having a total of 138 matches with 12 goals scored in the competition.

## International career

Gheorghe Albu played 42 games of which in 17 he was captain at international level for Romania, making his debut on 10 May 1931 under coach Constantin Rădulescu in a 5–2 home win over Bulgaria at the successful 1929–31 Balkan Cup in which 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. At the 1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs, Albu played in all six games as he won his third tournament with The Tricolours.
He played in a 2–1 victory against Yugoslavia at the successful 1934 World Cup qualifiers, afterwards being selected by coaches Josef Uridil and Rădulescu to be part of the squad that went at the final tournament in Italy where he played all the minutes in the first round which was 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 at the friendly Eduard Benes' Cup.

## Managerial career

Gheorghe Albu started his coaching career in 1945 at newly founded club, ITA Arad, being the assistant of Francisc Dvorzsak. Afterwards he went as head coach at the team where he ended his playing career, FC Craiova which finished the 1946–47 Divizia A season on the last place, relegating to Divizia B. In the following season he worked at Dermata Cluj in the same league but also relegated.
In 1950 he was appointed head coach of Romania for one friendly game, a 3–3 with Poland. Afterwards he had his last spell in Divizia A, leading Flamura Roșie Arad to an 8th place in the 1952 season, having a total of 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 from 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.

## Death

Gheorghe Albu died on 26 June 1974 in Făgăraș at the age of 64.

## Honours
### 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