RRI Sports Club
Ilie Balaci, one of Romania’s best footballers was buried with military honors on Tuesday. Balaci died of a heart attack in Craiova, southern Romania, on Sunday at the age of 62.
Florin Orban, 24.10.2018, 12:32
Ilie Balaci was born on September 8th, 1956 in Dolj county. His ID shows that he was born on September 13, but he explained his birth was officially declared five days later.
He started playing football with the children and junior sides of Universitatea Craiova Football Club and made his debut in a senior team at the age of 17.
He played for Universitatea Craiova between 1973 and 1984, contributing to some of the best performances in the club’s history, and that includes the team’s qualification for the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 1983. He was part of Universitatea’s line-up, which won Romania’s domestic football championships back in 1974, 1980 and 1981.
He made his debut with Romania’s national football side on March 23rd 1984 in a game our footballers lost to France nil-one. Balaci won his first cap for Romania’s national eleven at the age of 17, becoming the youngest player in the history of our national football team for which he played 65 games and scored 8 goals. He was designated twice the best Romanian footballer, in 1981 and 1982.
At the age of 28 severe injuries prevented him from continuing his successful career. He played four more years for FC Olt and Dinamo Bucharest after which he became a coach.
He started his career as a coach with Pandurii Targu Jiu then he moved to Drobeta Turnu Severin. In 1991 he started coaching teams in Arab countries, the first one being Club Africain in Tunis, a team which won the African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1992. He also obtained notable performances with teams from Morocco, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
