Alexandru Apolzan

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 as 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.

Alexandru Apolzan
Apolzan in 1955
Personal information
Date of birth (1927-02-06)6 February 1927
Place of birth Sibiu, Romania
Date of death 23 December 1982(1982-12-23) (aged 55)
Place of death Bucharest, Romania
Position(s) Central defender / 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)
National team
1949–1960 Romania 22 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

It 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.

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.[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

Club
Steaua Bucharest

References
  1. "Evolution of the Sweeper". outsideoftheboot.com. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  2. "The Evolution of the Sweeper: One of Football's Greatest Inventions". bethut.co.uk. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. "Piţi" Apolzan, primul libero din istoria fotbalului" (in Romanian). Adevărul. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

Further reading
  • Dragoș Cojocaru (2014). Apolzan, un fotbalist de legendă (in Romanian). Editura Militară, Millennium Press. ISBN 978-973-32-0951-5.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Gheorghe Popescu I		 Steaua captain
1949–Unknown		 Succeeded by
Ion Voinescu

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