Iosif Lereter

Iosif Lereter (23 July 1933 – 26 January 2024) was a Romanian footballer and manager.

Iosif Lereter

Lereter with Știința Timișoara in 1965
Personal information
Date of birth	(1933-07-23)23 July 1933
Place of birth	Oțelu Roșu, Romania
Date of death	26 January 2024(2024-01-26) (aged 90)
Place of death	Timișoara, Romania
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s)	Forward, midfielder, centre-back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1949–1956	Energia Oțelu Roșu
1957–1967	Politehnica Timișoara[a]	227	(89)
1967–1972	UTA Arad	148	(23)
Total		375	(112)
International career
1965	Romania	1	(0)
Managerial career
1972–1975	Constructorul Timișoara
1975–1977	UM Timișoara
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Lereter was born on 23 July 1933 in Oțelu Roșu, Romania and at the beginning of his career he played as a forward and midfielder, ending his career as a centre-back.^[1][2][3][4] He started to play football in the lower leagues of Romania at the local club from his town, Energia Oțelu Roșu in 1949.^[1][2]

Lereter moved to Politehnica Timișoara where he made his debut in the Romanian top-league Divizia A on 18 August 1957 in a 2–2 draw against Progresul Oradea.^[1][2][4] Lereter was part of Politehnica's team that won the 1957–58 Cupa României, coach Dincă Schileru using him all the minutes in the 1–0 victory in the final against Progresul București.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Lereter (back row, second from the left) with UTA Arad in 1968

In 1967, he went to play for UTA Arad, where under the guidance of coach Nicolae Dumitrescu he won two consecutive league titles, in the first he contributed with 10 goals scored in 30 appearances and in the second he scored 7 goals in 29 matches.^[1][2][4][6] He also made some European performances with The Old Lady as eliminating the defending European Cup champions Feyenoord in the 1970–71 European Cup season and playing eight games in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup campaign when the team reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur who would eventually win the competition.^[1][2][4][7] On 16 October 1971, while playing for UTA Arad in a match against Argeș Pitești, he became the first footballer to reach 300 Divizia A appearances, that is why every time a footballer reaches 300 appearances in the Romanian top-league, the press says he entered the "Iosif Lereter Club".^[2][3][4][8] He made his last appearance in Divizia A on 1 October 1972, playing for UTA Arad in a 4–2 loss against Jiul Petroșani, having a total of 327 appearances with 79 goals scored in the competition (including five goals in the West derby, all of them while playing for Politehnica), also having a total of 16 appearances in European competitions.^[1][4][9]

International career

Lereter played one game at international level for Romania when coach Ilie Oană used him in a 1966 World Cup qualification match against Czechoslovakia which ended with a 3–1 loss.^[10][11]

Managerial career and later life

After he ended his playing career, Lereter worked for a few years as a manager at Constructorul Timișoara and UM Timișoara.^[2][4][12] In 1985 he was Politehnica Timișoara's president for 10 months.^[12] In 2008, Lereter received the Honorary Citizen of Timișoara title and in 2018 in order to celebrate 60 years since the winning of the 1957–58 Cupa României, the Politehnica University of Timișoara awarded him a diploma of excellence.^[2][13]

Death

Lereter died in Timișoara on 26 January 2024, at the age of 90, having spent the last years of his life at a local nursing home.^[14]

Honours

Politehnica Timișoara

• Divizia B: 1959–60, 1964–65^[1]
• Cupa României: 1957–58^[1]

UTA Arad

• Divizia A: 1968–69, 1969–70^[1]

Notes

1. The 1957 championship called Cupa Primăverii is unofficial, so the appearances and goals scored at that competition for Politehnica Timișoara are not official.^[1]