Petre Libardi

Petre Libardi (27 August 1942 – 14 August 2005) was a Romanian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.^[1][2][3]

Petre Libardi

Personal information
Date of birth	(1942-08-27)27 August 1942[1]
Place of birth	Câmpulung-Muscel, Romania[1]
Date of death	14 August 2005(2005-08-14) (aged 62)[1]
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder[1]
Youth career
1956–1957	Minerul Câmpulung
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1961[2]	Minerul Câmpulung
1961–1962	Dinamo Pitești	0	(0)
1962–1963	Minerul Câmpulung
1963–1975	Jiul Petroșani[a]	263	(47)
International career
1967	Romania	2	(0)
Managerial career
1975–1976	Victoria Călan
1976–1977	Minerul Lupeni
1980–1982	Jiul Petroșani
1982–1985	Minerul Lupeni
	Paroșeni Vulcan
1990–1991	Jiul Petroșani
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Libardi was born on 27 August 1942 in Câmpulung-Muscel and began playing football at Minerul Câmpulung.^[1][2][4][5] He went for a short period to Dinamo Pitești but then returned to Minerul Câmpulung.^[1][2][4][5]

In 1963, Libardi joined Jiul Petroșani in Divizia B.^[1][2][4][5] He helped them gain promotion to Divizia A three years later, making his debut in the competition on 21 August 1966 in a 7–0 victory against Steagul Roșu Brașov.^[1][2][4][5] His first performance with The Miners was reaching the 1972 Cupa României final where coach Eugen Iordache used him the entire match in the eventual 2–0 loss to Rapid București.^[2][4][5][6] Libardi eventually won the competition two years later after a 4–2 victory against Politehnica Timișoara in the 1974 final in which coach Traian Ivănescu used him the full 90 minutes, helping Jiul win the first trophy in the club's history.^{[1][2][4][5][7]} Afterwards he played in both legs against Dundee United in the first round of the 1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup which was lost with 3–2 on aggregate.^{[1][2][5][8][9]} In May 1975, during a Jiul – Politehnica Iași home game, the wooden stand of the stadium started to burn due to a cigarette thrown into a pile of seed husks, so Libardi alongside teammates Gogu Tonca and Andrei Stocker jumped in to help the firefighters extinguish the fire.^[10] Libardi was Jiul's captain ten years from 1965 until 1975, a period in which he appeared in 238 Divizia A games and scored 38 goals, his last appearance in the competition taking place on 29 June 1975 in a 2–1 away loss to Universitatea Cluj.^[1][2][5][8]

International career

Libardi played two games at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Bazil Marian in a 1–1 friendly draw against Uruguay, which took place in Montevideo at Estadio Gran Parque Central.^[11][12] His second game was also a friendly which ended in a 0–0 draw against Poland.^[11]

Managerial career

After he retired, Libardi worked as a manager, first in the Romanian lower leagues for clubs such as Victoria Călan, Minerul Lupeni and Paroșeni Vulcan.^[5] His most notable performances were two spells in Divizia A at Jiul Petroșani, one in the early 1980s and the other in 1990.^{[2][4][5][13]} He also served as Jiul's president.^[2][4]

Personal life and death

In 2001 Libardi was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Petroșani title.^[4][5][8] He died on 14 August 2005 at age 62.^[1][2][5][8] In 2019, at 100 years after Jiul Petroșani was founded, the authorities decided to change the name of the local stadium from Jiul to "Petre Libardi" in his honor.^{[2][5][8][14]}

Honours

Jiul Petroșani

• Divizia B: 1965–66^[1]
• Cupa României: 1973–74, runner-up 1971–72^[1][6][7]

Notes

1. The statistics for the 1963–64 and 1964–65 Divizia B seasons are unavailable.^[1]