# László Raffinsky

László Raffinsky (Romanian: Ladislau Rafinski; 23 April 1905 – 31 July 1981) was a Romanian football player of Hungarian ethnicity who was a member of Romanian team which participated at the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay and 1938 FIFA World Cup in France. He holds the record for most goals scored in a Liga I match, having scored ten goals in the match between Juventus București and Dacia Unirea Brăila in the 1929–1930 season.

## Career
### Club career

László Raffinsky begun his football career in 1924, playing for Unirea, a football club from Timișoara. In 1925, Raffinsky moved to CA Timișoara, and then, in 1927, at Chinezul Timișoara, one of the Romania's best clubs at that time. But Raffinsky's new club entered in a financial crisis, and for the first time in seven years, Chinezul lost the Romanian championship. Eventually, Raffinsky leaves Chinezul in 1929, signing with Juventus București. In 1929–1930 season of Liga I, Raffinsky won his first title of champion with Juventus in which he managed to set a Liga I record of goals scored in a single match when he scored 10 goals in the 16–0 victory from the quarter-finals against Dacia Unirea Brăila and he also opened the score in the 3–0 victory against Gloria CFR Arad from the final. In 1931, he returns to Timișoara, playing for another symbol of interwar period Romanian football, Ripensia. He leaves Ripensia in 1933, after winning another Liga I – champion title, leaving Romania for playing in Czechoslovakia, at SK Židenice. He returns in Romania after two years, his come-back to Bucharest, where he previously played at Juventus, being linked with a move to Rapid. He played until 1940 for Rapid, winning for three times the Romanian Cup. In 1939, he was arrested, together with another three players of Rapid, Iuliu Baratky, Ştefan Auer and Ioan Bogdan, because of their win in the final of the Romanian Cup against Venus Bucharest. They were arrested at the order of Gabriel Marinescu, the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Prefect of Bucharest, who was also the chairman of Venus. After a huge scandal initiated by the press, the four players were released from the jail after a few days, and Gabriel Marinescu was arrested and executed in 1940. In 1940, Raffinsky retired from his playing career.

### National Team

László Raffinsky won twenty caps for the Romania national football team. His first match for Romania was a defeat, in 1929, against Yugoslavia. At his fourth match for the national team, Raffinsky scored his first and only goal for Romania, against Greece. In 1930, he was called to the Romanian squad which participated at the first FIFA World Cup, in Uruguay. But the chairman of Astra Romana, a company where Raffinsky and his team-mate Emerich Vogl were office workers, interdicted the two players to leave their workplace. At the intervention of Octav Luchide, the two players eventually took the SS Conte Verde ship to Uruguay. In Uruguay, Raffinsky played in both matches for Romania, against Peru and Uruguay. In the match against Peru, he was fouled by Plácido Galindo of Peru, who was dismissed for the foul, being the first player ever to be dismissed at the FIFA World Cup. He was also included in the 1930 FIFA World Cup Best Eleven. Raffinsky was not called up again at the national team until 1932, when he played in a 6–3 victory of Romania against France. After another three consecutive matches against Greece, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, Raffinsky was not called up until 1937. In 1938, he was called again at a FIFA World Cup, playing for Romania in the two matches against Cuba. These two matches were the last matches at the national team for Raffinsky.

### International goals

| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 25 May 1930 | ONEF Stadium, Bucharest, Romania | Greece | 8–1 | Win | Balkan Cup |

### Manager career

Despite being a successful player, László Rafinsky was not a great manager. He began his managerial career in 1944, coaching Prahova Ploieşti. He was the manager of the team from Ploieşti until 1945. He was the manager of another few Liga II and Liga III clubs, like Mica Brad, Chimica Târnăveni or Aurul Zlatna. In 1962, he moved to Cluj-Napoca, being for two years the manager of Tehnofrig, a small football club of the factory with the same name. In 1964, Ladislau Raffinsky retired from football.

## Honours
### Player
#### Juventus București

* Liga I (1): 1929–30

#### Ripensia Timișoara

* Liga I (1): 1932–33

#### Rapid București

* Cupa României (4): 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40

## References and notes

* ↑ Evidence of Ladislau Raffinsky's appearances for Romania national football team Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
* ↑ An article about performances made by Romanian football players or teams, including Raffinsky's (in Romanian)
* ↑ Chinezul Timișoara won the Romanian championship six times in a row, between 1922 and 1927
* ↑ "File de poveste – Episodul IX – "JUVENTUS – CAMPIOANA ROMÂNIEI" partea II" [Story files - Episode IX - "JUVENTUS - CHAMPION OF ROMANIA" part II] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
* ↑ "File de poveste – Episodul X – "JUVENTUS – CAMPIOANA ROMÂNIEI" partea III" [Story files - Episode X - "JUVENTUS - CHAMPION OF ROMANIA" part III] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
* ↑ "File de poveste – perioada Juventus! Episodul XI – TITLUL DISTRICTUAL DECIS ŞI DE O CONTESTAŢIE" [Story files - the Juventus period! Episode XI - THE DISTRICT TITLE DECIDED AND BY A CONTEST] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
* ↑ "Cele mai multe goluri marcate de un jucător într-un meci de Superliga: recordul care dăinuie de aproape un secol!" [Most goals scored by a player in a Super League match: the record that stands for almost a century!] (in Romanian). Playsport.ro. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
* ↑ Sportivi romani in puscarie | news 4 romania
* ↑ An article about Romanian football players who were incarcerated
* ↑ Evidence of Raffinsky's first match at the national team Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
* ↑ Evidence of Raffinsky's first goal at the national team
* ↑ Romania's squad for 1930 FIFA World Cup
* ↑ "An article about Romanian players from Timișoara that played at the World Cup. The story with Raffinsky and his chairman is included". Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
* ↑ Evidence of the two matches played by Raffinsky at the 1930 FIFA World Cup
* ↑ "The story of Romania's first match at the World Cup". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
* 1 2 3 4 5 Mihai Ionescu, Mircea Tudoran, Fotbal de la A la Z, Bucharest: Editura Sport-Turism, 1984