Gheorghe Dungu (5 April 1929 – 15 June 2023) was a Romanian football manager and footballer.
Club career
Gheorghe Dungu was born on 5 April 1929 in Bucharest, Romania and when he was 6 years old his family moved to Făgăraș where he started playing football at Explosivi Făgăraș, first as a forward and at the age of fifteen or sixteen in a match against Metrom Brașov, the team's goalkeeper got injured and he replaced him, saving a penalty in the game, coach Andrei Sepci deciding to definitely keep him in the goalkeeper position from then on.[3][4][5][6] In 1947 he went to play for CFR Făgăraș, being noticed by Rapid București's player Remus Ghiurițan who recommended him to the team's officials.[3][4][5][6] He went on a trial at Rapid and after playing three matches in which he kept a clean sheet, coach Petre Steinbach decided to keep him at the team.[3][4][5][6] He made his Divizia A debut for The Railwaymen on 4 March 1949 in a 3–0 victory against Metalul Reșița, staying with the club until the end of his career in 1963, gaining a total of 170 Divizia A appearances, being described as "one of the most appreciated goalkeepers" of Rapid.[2][3][4][5][6] The highlights of his career were two runner-up positions in the 1948–49 and 1950 Divizia A seasons with Rapid, also helping the team reach two Cupa României finals in 1961 and 1962 under the guidance of coach Ion Mihăilescu which were lost in front of Arieșul Turda respectively Steaua București and winning the 1957 Cupa Primăverii.[7][8][9]
International career
Gheorghe Dungu played two friendly games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 30 September 1962 under coach Constantin Teașcă who used him in the first 80 minutes, being replaced for the last 10 by Vasile Sfetcu in a 4–0 victory against Morocco which was played on the 23 August Stadium from Bucharest.[5][6][10][11] In the second game which took place on 14 October 1962 he was used by Teașcă in all the minutes of the 3–2 away loss in front East Germany.[10][12]
Managerial career
Gheorghe Dungu coached several teams from the Romanian lower leagues, the first one being Progresul Alexandria in 1963, he also had a spell abroad as the national team of Zanzibar's coach from 1972 until 1974, he also worked at junior level at the youth centers of Steaua București and Rapid București and in the 1985–86 Divizia A season he was the assistant of Ion Motroc at Rapid.[3][4][5][6]
Personal life
Dungu was married to Silvia Popescu.[3] He died on 15 June 2023 at age 94.[5][13]
