Alexandru Apolzan (6 February 1927 – 23 December 1982) was a Romanian footballer, who played as a defender, mainly for Steaua București and also for Romania. He has been credited with the invention of the sweeper role and is considered one of the best sweepers in the history of Romanian football, with only Miodrag Belodedici and Gheorghe Popescu, in recent years, being able to play at a similar level.
 Apolzan in 1955 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 6 February 1927 | ||
| Place of birth | Sibiu, Romania | ||
| Date of death | 23 December 1982 (aged 55) | ||
| Place of death | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back, sweeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1941–1943 | Şoimii Sibiu | ||
| 1945–1946 | 23 August București | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1949 | CFR București | 60 | (1) |
| 1949–1962 | Steaua București | 216 | (2) |
| Total | 276 | (3) | |
| International career | |||
| 1949–1960 | Romania | 22 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
editIt was the Romanian Apolzan who first played as sweeper, while at Steaua București.[1][2] However, Apolzan played during the darkest period in the history of Romania, when the connections with the outside world were almost cut completely.
Apolzan signed his first contract with Şoimii, a local team from Sibiu, in 1941. After the war he joins the squad of CFR Bucharest and then between 1949 and 1962, he played for Steaua București until his retirement.
Hungarian coach Gusztáv Sebes, the builder of the Hungarian team from the first half of the 1950s – the Magical Magyars, said in 1954, after the 1954 FIFA World Cup that Apolzan, Ion Voinescu and Titus Ozon are at the same level as his own Hungarian players and that he would be proud to be able to coach them.[3]
He also won 22 caps for Romania. It was however an era when Romania used to play less than five games per year.
Honours
editSteaua Bucharest
References
edit- ^ "Evolution of the Sweeper". outsideoftheboot.com. 29 August 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
- ^ "The Evolution of the Sweeper: One of Football's Greatest Inventions". bethut.co.uk. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ "Piţi" Apolzan, primul libero din istoria fotbalului" (in Romanian). Adevărul. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
Further reading
edit- Dragoș Cojocaru (2014). Apolzan, un fotbalist de legendă (in Romanian). Editura Militară, Millennium Press. ISBN 978-973-32-0951-5.
External links
edit- Profile at SteauaFC.com (in Romanian) at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 January 2011)
- Alexandru Apolzan at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
- Alexandru Apolzan at National-Football-Teams.com
- Alexandru Apolzan at WorldFootball.net