Wikipedia

Petre Steinbach

Petre Steinbach (1 January 1906 – 1996), was a Romanian football midfielder and manager.

Petre Steinbach
Personal information
Date of birth (1906-01-01)January 1, 1906
Place of birth Temesvár, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 1996 (aged 89–90)
Place of death Germany
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1925–1928 CAM Timișoara
1928–1929 Colțea Brașov
1929–1939 Unirea Tricolor București 90 (5)
1939–1940 Olympia București
International career
1930–1935[1] Romania 18 (0)
Managerial career
1934–1937 Unirea Tricolor București (player-coach)
1940 Venus București
1946–1947 Carmen București
1947–1948 ITA Arad
1948 Romania
1948–1952 Rapid București
1960 Romania U18
1963–1964 Farul Constanța
1967–1968 Weiden
1968–1969 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț
1969 ASA Târgu Mureș
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Petre Steinbach was born on 1 January 1906 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary, being of Banat Swabian ethnicity, starting to play football in 1925 at CAM Timișoara.[2][3][4][5] In 1928 he went for one year at Colțea Brașov, afterwards moving to Unirea Tricolor București where after playing in the regional league in the first three years, he made his Divizia A debut on 4 September 1932 in a 4–1 home win over AMEF Arad.[2][3][4][5] During his ten seasons spell at Unirea, the highlights were a second place in the 1933–34 season and reaching the 1936 Cupa României final as a player-coach, playing all the minutes in the 5–1 loss in front of Ripensia Timișoara.[2][3][4][5][6] He made his last Divizia A appearance on 10 April 1938 in a 6–1 loss in front of Chinezul Timișoara, having a total of 90 games with five goals in the competition, also the team relegated at the end of that season but he stayed with the club for one more year in the second league, helping it earn promotion back to the first league.[2] Steinbach finished his playing career in 1940 at Olympia București.[2][3][4]

International career

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Petre Steinbach was selected by coach Constantin Rădulescu to be part of Romania's squad at the first World Cup, the 1930 edition in which however he did not play.[3][5] His debut came on 12 October 1930, Rădulescu using him in a 5–3 away loss against Bulgaria at the 1929–31 Balkan Cup, a tournament in which he also played in the rematch, which ended with a 5–2 victory, also appearing in a 4–2 away win over Yugoslavia and in a 4–2 away victory with Greece, helping Romania win the competition.[1][7][8] He played all the minutes in Romania's first meeting with France, a home friendly which ended with a 6–3 victory.[1][3][4][5] Steinbach played three games at the 1932 Balkan Cup in which he captained the team for the first time in a 3–0 away win over Greece.[1] He also played three games at the 1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs and two at the 1933 Balkan Cup, including a 7–0 victory with Bulgaria, both tournaments being won by Romania.[1][9][10] During his 18th and last cap for the national team he was captain in a friendly which ended with a 7–1 loss in front of Sweden.[1]

Managerial career

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In 1933 and 1938 he went for one month each time to England in order to study football training sessions, including those of Arsenal.[4][5][11][12] He started coaching in 1934 while also being an active player at Unirea Tricolor București, during his three-seasons spell the biggest performance being the reaching of the 1936 Cupa României final which was lost with 5–1 loss in front of Ripensia Timișoara.[5][6][13]

After World War II, Steinbach, because of his German origins was sent for a while to forced labor in the USSR, Joseph Stalin considering that German people doing forced labor was a way for the Germans to pay "war reparations".[3][4][5] Sent to work at a lead mine in the Donbas region, Steinbach was working in inhumane conditions.[3] However, according to the sports journalist Lucian Oprea, one of the bosses in the region found out that among the deportees there is a former footballer, who also played in the Romanian national team, and thus Petre Steinbach was taken out of the camp and put to train a local team.[3][5] He managed to promote the team to a higher echelon and was eventually released, returning to Romania.[3][5]

In 1947 he became coach at ITA Arad, helping the team win the second title in the club's history, using only 14 players in the process.[3][4][5][11][12][14] Also in the same season the team won the Cupa României but Steinbach left before the final, Gusztáv Juhász leading the team in the 3–2 win over CFR Timișoara.[11][12][15] In 1948 he coached Romania for a short period of time, leaving after a 9–0 away loss in front of Hungary at the 1948 Balkan Cup.[16] Afterwards he went to coach Rapid București which whom he finished runner-up in the league in the 1948–49 and 1950 seasons.[11][12][17][18] After The Railwaymen relegated in 1951, he helped them promote back to the first league after one year.[11][12][19][20]

Steinbach worked for a few years at Dinamo București's youth center where he taught and formed players like Ion and Lică Nunweiller, Ion Pârcălab, Iosif Varga or Florin Halagian.[3][11][12] His biggest junior level performance was reaching the 1960 European Under-18 Championship final with Romania's under-18 team which was lost with 2–1 in front of Hungary.[4][21] After the tournament from Vienna he was arrested for "unknown reasons" when he arrived back in Romania.[4]

In the following years he worked at Farul Constanța in the first league, had a spell in West Germany at Weiden where he was recommended by Helmut Schön.[5][13][11][12] Then he returned in the country in 1968 to coach lower league side, Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, afterwards having his last first league spell at ASA Târgu Mureș in 1969.[5][13][11][12] Petre Steinbach has a total of 190 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 78 victories, 36 draws and 76 losses.[22]

Writing

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Steinbach was also a writer, he wrote his first book in 1937 called Fotbalul nostru (Our football) which received a positive review from Camil Petrescu.[3][4][5][11][12] He wrote another volume called Fotbalul se joacă râzând (Football is played with laughter), released in 1972, also for a few years he would write an analysis column in the Sportul popular newspaper.[3][4][5]

Death

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He died in 1996 at age 90 in Germany, a country in which he settled since 1975.[3][4][5][11][12]

Quotes

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  • "In most cases, a football player is formed until the age of 20. When he enters the first team, all he has to do is perfect his game and crystallize his technique."[11][12]
  • "The educator, the teacher must have a double goal in mind: the "gentleman-athlete", who can respond perfectly to the physical effort but who also lives the moral aspect of the sport. An athlete must lead a complete life, to be lived both with his body and his soul. And this sporting life must be continuous."[11][12]
  • "A player must develop, before entering the first team, in all positions. It is a big mistake to raise, from a young age, specialized players for certain positions."[11][12]
  • "A wretched financial spirit prevails among our players, which obscures this understanding. They only play to earn money, which they can easily squander in a non-sporting life. Professionalism was created to give players as much time as possible to improve. Our footballers imported the goal but did not admit the obstacles."[11][12]

Honours

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Player

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Unirea Tricolor București

Romania

Manager

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Unirea Tricolor București

ITA Arad

Rapid București

Romania U18

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Petre Steinbach". European Football. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Petre Steinbach at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Din istoria sportului românesc-Povestea lui Petre Steinbach, fotbalistul-scriitor deportat în URSS" [From the history of Romanian sport-The story of Petre Steinbach, the football player-writer deported to the USSR] (in Romanian). Independentaromana.ro. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Cum ar trebui să se poarte un fotbalist:construirea unui "atlet-gentleman"" [How a footballer should behave: The construction of an "athlete-gentleman"] (in Romanian). Historia.ro. 9 July 2020. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Povestea lui Petre Steinbach, fotbalistul român care s-a antrenat cu Arsenal. E deportat în URSS" [The story of Petre Steinbach, the Romanian footballer who trained with Arsenal. He was deported to the USSR] (in Romanian). Newsweek.ro. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d "Romanian Cup – Season 1935 – 1936". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Balkan Cup 1929–31". European Football. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Bulgaria 5-3 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Balkan Cup 1933". European Football. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b "1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs". European Football. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Ceahlăul a avut un antrenor legendar, PETRE STEINBACH" [Ceahlăul had a legendary coach, PETRE STEINBACH] (in Romanian). Zch.ro. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Ceahlăul 100: Fotbaliștii pietreni au avut un antrenor legendar – Petre Steinbach" [Ceahlăul 100: The footballers from Piatra Neamț had a legendary coach – Petre Steinbach] (in Romanian). Dordeneamt.ro. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Petre Steinbach manager profile" (in Romanian). Labtof.ro. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1947 - 1948". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Petre Steinbach manager profile". European Football. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  17. ^ a b "1948–49 Divizia A". Romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  18. ^ a b "1950 Divizia A". Romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  19. ^ a b "Istoria promovărilor vișinii" [History of the burgundy promotions] (in Romanian). Welovesport.ro. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  20. ^ "1951 Divizia A". Romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  21. ^ a b "UEFA Youth Tournament Under 18, 1960". Rsssf.org. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Top 60 antrenori" [Top 60 coaches] (in Romanian). RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
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