Alexandru Apolzan
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexandru Apolzan | ||
| Date of birth | 6 February 1927 | ||
| Place of birth | Sibiu, Romania | ||
| Date of death | 23 December 1982 (aged 55) | ||
| Place of death | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Playing position | Central Defender / Sweeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1941–1943 | Şoimii Sibiu | ||
| 1945–1946 | 23 August Bucureşti | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1949 | CFR Bucureşti | 60 | (1) |
| 1949–1962 | Steaua Bucureşti | 216 | (2) |
| Total | 276 | (3) | |
| National team | |||
| 1949–1960 | Romania | 22 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Alexandru Apolzan (6 February 1927 in Sibiu – 23 December 1982) was a Romanian football player, who played mainly for Steaua Bucureşti and also for Romania. He is in fact the inventor of the sweeper role and is considered as one of the best sweepers in the history of Romanian football, only Miodrag Belodedici and Gheorghe Popescu, in the recent years, being able to play at a similar level.
An inventor of modern football
It was the Romanian Apolzan who first played in as sweeper, while at Steaua Bucureşti. 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, at the end of his career, played for Steaua Bucureşti.
The great Hungarian coach Gusztáv Sebes, the builder of the great 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.
He also won 22 caps for Romania. It was however an era when Romania used to play less than five games per year.
Honours
Club
- Steaua Bucharest
- Romanian League (6): 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1960, 1961
- Romanian Cup (5): 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955
External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gheorghe Popescu I |
Steaua captain 1949–Unknown |
Succeeded by Ion Voinescu |