Viorel Sima

Viorel Sima (born 30 April 1950) is a Romanian former football defender.^[1]

Viorel Sima

Personal information
Date of birth	(1950-04-30) 30 April 1950 (age 75)[1]
Place of birth	Sebeș, Romania[1]
Position(s)	Centre back[1]
Youth career
	UTA Arad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1976	UTA Arad	189	(18)
1977–1980	Strungul Arad
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Sima was born on 30 April 1950 in Sebeș, Romania and started to play football at the junior squads of UTA Arad, his first coach being Dan Alexandru, later working with József Pecsovszky and Andrei Mercea, managing to win a national junior championship.^[1][2] In 1968 he started to play for UTA's senior team under coach Nicolae Dumitrescu, making his Divizia A debut on 24 August in a 1–0 away victory against Steaua București, gaining a total of seven appearances by the end of the season as the club won the title.^[1][2][3][4] He won another title with the club in the following season, Dumitrescu using him in 17 matches in which he scored two goals.^[1][3][2][4] He also made some European performances with The Old Lady as eliminating defending champions Feyenoord in the 1970–71 European Cup and playing eight games in which he scored one goal in a 3–0 victory against Vitória Setúbal from the 1971–72 UEFA Cup when they reached the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur who would eventually win the competition.^[1][2][3][5] He spent nine seasons at UTA, his last Divizia A match being a 5–0 away loss against Steaua, having a total of 189 appearances and 18 goals scored in the competition, also making 15 appearances with one goal scored in European competitions.^[1] Sima retired after he spent a few seasons in the Romanian lower leagues at Strungul Arad.^[1]

Honours

UTA Arad

• Divizia A: 1968–69, 1969–70^[1]