Lajos Sătmăreanu

Lajos Sătmăreanu (Romanian: [ˈlajoʃ sətməˈre̯anu];^[4] also known as Ludovic Sătmăreanu, Hungarian: Szatmári Lajos, 21 February 1944 – 30 June 2025) was a Romanian footballer and manager who played as a right-back. He played for the Romanian Olympic and national teams, along with various Romanian clubs, winning a Divizia A title and five Cupa României. Later in life, he coached or managed various clubs, youth and professional.

Lajos Sătmăreanu

Sătmăreanu în the 1960s
Personal information
Date of birth	(1944-02-21)21 February 1944
Place of birth	Nagyszalonta, Kingdom of Hungary (now Salonta, Romania)
Date of death	30 June 2025(2025-06-30) (aged 81)
Place of death	Romania
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Right-back
Youth career
1958–1960	Stăruința Salonta
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1962	Stăruința Salonta
1962–1963	Crișana Oradea	4	(0)
1963–1964	Flamura Roșie Oradea	18	(1)
1964–1965	ASA Târgu Mureș	12	(1)
1965–1975	Steaua București	271	(11)
1975	Bihor Oradea	14	(1)
1975–1977	Progresul București[a]	20	(0)
Total		339	(14)
International career
1965–1967	Romania Olympic[2]	2	(0)
1967–1973	Romania[3]	42	(1)
Managerial career
1977–1989	Steaua București (youth)
1989	Bihor Oradea
1989–2011	Steaua București (youth)
2011	Școala Privată de Fotbal "Vasile Matincă" (youth)
2011–2016	Argeșul Mihăilești
2016–2022	CSA Steaua București (youth)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Sătmăreanu, nicknamed Facchetti of the Carpathians, was born on 21 February 1944 in Salonta, Hungary (now Romania) and started to play football in 1958 at local club, Recolta.^[1][5][6] He made his Divizia A debut on 17 March 1963, playing for Crișana Oradea in a 4–2 away loss to Steaua București, shortly afterwards moving to play at neighboring team, Flamura Roșie in Divizia B for one season.^[1][5][6]

After another Divizia B season, this time spent at ASA Târgu Mureș, Sătmăreanu went to play at Steaua for 10 seasons, winning one league title in the 1967–68 season, being used by coach Ștefan Kovács in 26 matches and also winning five Cupa României, scoring the last goal of the 4–0 victory against UTA Arad from the 1966 final.^[1][5][6][7] For the way he played in 1968, Sătmăreanu was placed third in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, in the following year being fourth.^[8] German club Hertha BSC wanted to sign Sătmăreanu after his performance at the 1970 World Cup, but Romania's communist regime refused to let him go.^[9] During his period spent with The Military Men, he also played 20 games in European competitions, taking part in the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, playing all six games as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and Barcelona, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule by Bayern Munich.^{[1][6][9][10]}

In 1975, he went to play at fellow Divizia A team, Bihor Oradea, leaving after half of season to go play in Divizia B for Progresul București under the guidance of coach Viorel Mateianu.^{[1][5][6][9][11]} He helped Progresul earn the promotion to the first league, making his last Divizia A appearance on 8 June 1977 in a 2–1 home victory against FCM Reșiţa, having a total of 306 matches with six goals scored in the competition.^[1][5][6][9]

International career

"Sătmăreanu was one of the most constant players I had at the World Cup from Mexico."

–Angelo Niculescu, former Romania manager^[6]

Sătmăreanu played for Romania in 42 matches, scoring one goal, making his debut under coach Bazil Marian in a 1–1 friendly draw against Uruguay, which took place in Montevideo on Estadio Gran Parque Central.^[3][12] He competed for the Romanian Olympic team from 1967 to 1968, where he made two appearances.^[2] He played six games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, also being used by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches from the final tournament as Romania did not advance to the next stage.^[3] Sătmăreanu also played nine matches at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, scoring one goal in the first quarter-finals game out of three against Hungary, who eventually defeated Romania in the third game, advancing to the final tournament.^[3] He played four matches at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, his last one being a 1–0 victory against East Germany.^[3][13]

For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Sătmăreanu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.^[14]

Coaching career

Sătmăreanu worked as a coach at the juvenile level, mostly at Steaua București where between 1977 and 2011 he taught and formed generations of players, which include Daniel Gherasim, Dan Petrescu, Marius Mitu, Robert Niță and George Ogăraru.^[6][15] Afterwards, he coached juniors at Școala Privată de Fotbal "Vasile Matincă" for a short while. Then he coached senior team Argeșul Mihăilești in the Romanian lower leagues for a few years, before returning to coaching juniors in 2016 at CSA Steaua București until 2022.^{[6][9][15][16][17]}

Personal life and death

Sătmăreanu was of Hungarian ethnicity.^[5] He died on 30 June 2025, at the age of 81.^[16][18]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sătmăreanu goal.^[3]

List of international goals scored by Lajos Sătmăreanu

#	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 April 1972	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	31	Hungary	1–1	1–1	Euro 1972 quarter-finals

Honours

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 1967–68^[1]
• Cupa României: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71^[1]

Progresul București

• Divizia B: 1975–76^[1]

Individual

• Romanian Footballer of the Year (third place): 1968, (fourth place): 1969^[8]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1975–76 Divizia B season are unavailable.^[1]