# Sever Coracu

Sever Coracu (2 October 1920 – 1993) was a Romanian football striker and a sprinter. He was national champion at 200 metres sprint in 1939.

## Club career

   "Left winger, unique for his speed, international football player, athletic, with a perfect strike of the ball with both feet, finisher par excellence if he was well valued, exceptional counter-attacking player"
Sever Coracu was born on 2 October 1920 in Kovin, Kingdom of SCS, starting to play junior level football in 1934 in Timișoara, Romania at local club Progresul, afterwards moving to Ripensia. In 1938 he went to play for Universitatea Cluj, firstly at the junior squads. He scored his first goal for the senior side in a 7–0 win over Olimpia Satu Mare from the 1939–40 Divizia B season, at the end of which the team finished on the second place, playing a play-off for promotion to Divizia A against Victoria Cluj in which he scored two goals in the 5–1 victory.
Sever Coracu stayed with "U" Cluj in the hardest period of the club's history, as in 1940, the team moved from Cluj-Napoca to Sibiu as a result of the Second Vienna Award, when the northern part of Transylvania was ceded to Hungary. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War and the return of the northern part of Transylvania to Romania, "U" returned to its home in Cluj. During these years the team's biggest performance was the reaching of the 1942 Cupa României final, in which however Coracu did not play in the eventual defeat in front of Rapid București, also in the 1940–41 Divizia A season he scored a brace in a 3–2 home loss in front of eventual champions, Unirea Tricolor București, one of them being directly from a corner kick. In the 1941–42 unofficial Cupa Basarabia he scored six goals in a 17–0 home win over CFR Sibiu. After the war in which some of the club's players died, the team had to earn its right to play in Cluj, by playing against Ferar Cluj who during the war competed in the Hungarian league under the name Kolozsvár AC, finishing on the third place in one season and had more experienced and international footballers. According to historian Gheorghe Bodea who was at the game, the differences between the two teams could be seen since the players entered the field as the ones of Ferar had modern new equipment while the players of "U" appeared in equipment that was five years old. Bodea also claims that the game was dominated at first by Ferar but Universitatea resisted with captain Mircea Luca being the leader of the defense, at one moment in the game he got his arch broken during an aerial duel, Coracu bandaging him in order to continue the game. With Luca taking care of the defense and Coracu of the offense, "U" Cluj won with 4–0.
In the summer of 1946, the Romanian Football Federation decided that Universitatea Cluj had to play a play-off against Victoria Cluj in order to earn the right to play in the 1946–47 Divizia A season. In the first leg, the score was 1–1, but in the second The Red Caps won 3–1, one of their goals being scored by Coracu. The team reached the 1949 Cupa României final in which Coracu did not play in the 2–1 loss in front of CSCA București. In 1950 he went to play for Divizia B side, Locomotiva Cluj where he stayed until he retired in 1952. Sever Coracu was a player known for scoring many goals from corner kicks and for his speed which made him national champion at 200 metres sprint in 1939.

## International career

Sever Coracu made his debut at international level for Romania under coach Liviu Iuga in a 2–1 away victory against Yugoslavia. He also appeared in a 1–0 loss against Albania, at the 1946 Balkan Cup.

## Death

Sever Coracu died in 1993 in Cluj-Napoca.

## Honours

Universitatea Cluj
* Cupa României runner-up: 1941–42, 1948–49