Gavrilă Birău
.jpg) Birău with UTA Arad in 1966 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 10 February 1945[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania[1] | ||
| Date of death | 16 March 2025 (aged 80) | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Right-back[1] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1958–1964 | Textila Sfântu Gheorghe | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1976 | UTA Arad | 319 | (3) |
| 1976–1977 | Aurul Brad | ||
| International career | |||
| 1966 | Romania U23 | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1981–1982 | Strungul Arad | ||
| 1982–1983 | UTA Arad | ||
| 1987–1988 | UTA Arad | ||
| 1989–1990 | UTA Arad | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gavrilă Birău (also known as Gábor Bíró; 10 February 1945 – 16 March 2025) was a Romanian football player and manager. A right-back, he spent most of his career with UTA Arad.[1][2][3]
Club career
[edit]Birău was born on 10 February 1945 in Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania and practised ice hockey, skiing, boxing and football until he was around the age of 18 when he began focusing exclusively on football.[1][2][3] He played junior level football at Textila Sfântu Gheorghe as a forward.[1][2] In 1963 coach Gheorghe Ola called him up at a Romania youth team for a match against Turkey in which he was seen by UTA Arad's coach Nicolae Dumitrescu who proposed he come to UTA and Birău accepted.[1][2] Dumitrescu gave him his Divizia A debut on 14 March 1965 in a 1–0 home victory against Steagul Roșu Brașov, also from this point on his playing position was right-back.[1][2] His first performance was reaching the 1966 Cupa României final which was lost 4–0 to Steaua București.[4] Afterwards he won two consecutive titles in the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons, with Dumitrescu utilizing him for 30 matches in both of those seasons, scoring a goal in the second one.[1][2][3][5][6] Birău also made some European performances with The Old Lady, such as eliminating defending champions Feyenoord in the 1970–71 European Cup.[1][2][3][5][6] In the 1971–72 UEFA Cup he helped the club reach the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur who eventually won the competition.[1][2][3][5][7] He spent 12 seasons at UTA, his last Divizia A game took place on 20 June 1976 in a 3–2 away loss to ASA Târgu Mureș, having a total of 319 matches with three goals scored in the competition, and also totaling 14 appearances in European competitions.[1][2] Birău retired after he spent one season in Divizia B at Aurul Brad.[1][3]
International career
[edit]In 1966, Birău made one appearance for Romania's under-23 team in a 3–3 draw against Poland.[8]
Later life and death
[edit]After he ended his career, Birău coached teams from Arad like Strungul, Indagrara, CPL and also UTA on a few occasions.[2][3] He also worked as a youth coach.[2][3] A book about him was written by Radu Romănescu and Ionel Costin, called Gabi Birău – povestea fundașului de fier (Gabi Birău – the story of the iron defender), which was released on the occasion of his 73rd birthday.[3][5][6]
Birău died on 16 March 2025, at the age of 80.[9][10]
Honours
[edit]UTA Arad
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Gavrilă Birău at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Fundașul de fier al Bătrânei Doamne a împlinit 70 de ani. Gabor Biro: "Am iubit UTA toată viața mea!"" [The iron defender of the Old Lady is 70 years old. Gabor Biro: "I've loved UTA my whole life!"] (in Romanian). Glsa.ro. 12 August 2015. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Covăsneanul campion" [The champion from Covasna] (in Romanian). Welovesport.ro. 10 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1965-1966". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Biro. Gabor Biro. Omul, activitatea, viața unui mare campion" [Biro. Gabor Biro. The man, the activity, the life of a great champion] (in Romanian). Specialarad.ro. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Volumul "Gabi Birău – povestea fundașului de fier" a văzut lumina tiparului la a 73-a aniversare a gloriei utiste" [The volume "Gabi Birău - the story of the iron defender" saw the light of the pattern at the 73rd anniversary of the UTA glory] (in Romanian). Sportarad.ro. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Fotbalul de altă dată: UTA Arad – Tottenham Hotspur, Cupa UEFA, 1972" [Football of another time: UTA Arad - Tottenham Hotspur, UEFA Cup, 1972] (in Romanian). Tackle.ro. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- ^ "Gavrilă Birău profile". 11v11. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ "Gabi Biro, dublu campion al României cu UTA, a murit la vârsta de 79 de ani" [Gabi Biro, double Romanian champion with UTA, died at the age of 79] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "E doliu la Arad: S-a stins "fundașul de fier", înfăptuitor al celei de-a 8-a minuni a lumii!" [It's a mourning day in Arad: The "iron defender", creator of the 8th wonder of the world, has passed away!] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 16 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
External links
[edit]- Gavrilă Birău at WorldFootball.net
- Gavrilă Birău at Labtof.ro