Ilie Savu

Ilie Savu (9 January 1920 – 16 November 2010) was a Romanian football player who played as a goalkeeper and was also the first ever goalkeeper to play for Steaua Bucureşti.

Player career

Born in Cornățelu, Dâmboviţa County, Romania, Ilie Savu began his career at 14 years of age, playing as a striker and as a goalkeeper. He played two seasons for Prahova Ploieşti before he moved to Bucharest, where he played 5 seasons for Venus Bucureşti. In this period he played also two matches in Romania national youth team. After Venus, he signed with Corvinul Deva, where he played in a period of four years only a few matches because of the Second World War . After the war, he signed with Steaua Bucureşti,^[1] being the goalkeeper of the first Steaua squad. He played three years for Steaua before his retirement.

Manager career

He was the trainer of Steaua's Gold Team^[2] in 1956 when the team won the championship and played in a tourney in England. After Steaua, he managed Corvinul Hunedoara and he promoted this team into Liga I. He returned in 1965 at Steaua, but after only two years he left the team.

Death

Ilie Savu died on 16 November 2010, shortly after midnight, at the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest losing the battle with a hepatic disease.^[3]

Honours

Player

Venus Bucureşti

• Romanian League: 2
  • 1938–39, 1939–40

Manager

Steaua Bucureşti

• Romanian League: 1
  • 1956 as co-trainer for Ştefan Dobay
• Romanian Cup: 2
  • 1965–66, 1966–67

References