Rudolf 'Rudy' Wetzer (17 March 1901 – 13 April 1993) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu of the first Romanian side to participate in a FIFA World Cup. He was of Jewish ethnicity.[2] His brothers Ștefan and Ioan were also footballers.[3]

Rudy Wetzer
Personal information
Full name Rudolf Wetzer I
Date of birth (1901-03-17)17 March 1901
Place of birth Temesvár, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 13 April 1993(1993-04-13) (aged 92)
Place of death Haifa, Israel
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1920–1921 Chinezul Timişoara - (-)
1921–1922 Törekvés SE - (-)
1922–1924 Unirea Timișoara - (-)
1924–1925 BSK Belgrade - (-)
1925–1928 Chinezul Timişoara - (-)
1929 Újpest 1 (0)
1929 Pécs-Baranya 6 (4)
1930–1931 Juventus București 8 (11)
1931–1932 Ripensia Timişoara - (-)
1932–1933 FC Hyères 13 (5)
1934–1935 ILSA Timișoara - (-)
1935–1936 Rovine Grivița Craiova - (-)
1936–1937 Progresul Timișoara - (-)
Total 28 (20)
International career
1923–1932 Romania 17 (13)
Managerial career
1930 Juventus București[1]
1935 Ripensia Timişoara
1935–1936 ILSA Timișoara
1936–1938 Progresul Timișoara
1938–1939 Tricolor Ploieşti
1940–1947 Oţelul Reşiţa
1948–1952 Dinamo București
1952 Dinamo Oraşul Stalin
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

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In club football, Wezter played for Juventus București (who were Romanian national champions in the 1929–1930 season),[4] as such he was a colleague of squad members Vogl and Ladislau Raffinsky. In the 1920s. he had played for Unirea Timişoara (appearing, whilst with them, at the 1924 Olympic Games)[5] and Chinezul before moving on. His last matches for Romania (played while he was playing for Ripensia) were in 1932; his last match came in a 2–0 defeat to Bulgaria in Belgrade.[6] Otherwise he played for BSK Belgrade, Újpest FC, Pécs-Baranya, Hyères FC, ILSA Timișoara and Craiovan Craiova.[7] While playing in Hungary, he used the name Rudolf Veder, in Serbia, Rudolf Večer.

When BSK brought Wetzer along another Romanian, Dezideriu Laki, to its team in 1924, they became the first foreign professionals to play in Serbia.[8]

International career

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During the 1930 FIFA World Cup Wetzer became Romania's team captain and team-coach alongside Octav Luchide, under the management of Costel Rădulescu. This was Rădulescu's decision in the weeks prior to the tournament. In May 1930 the Romanians had lost the King Alexander's Cup (a two-team event) to Yugoslavia in Belgrade. At the time Emerich Vogl was team captain. Wetzer was brought back into the side two weeks' later for a friendly against Greece in Bucharest. This decision reaped considerable rewards for both Rădulescu and Wetzer as Wetzer scored 5 goals in an 8–1 victory for his team. Romania had been grouped with Uruguay and Peru in the tournament. They defeated the Peruvians 3–1 before losing to the eventual winners and hosts 4–0. The second of these games was held at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

Wetzer was a very prolific scorer for Romania. He and Bodola were the top two goalscorers of the 1929–31 (first) edition of the Balkan Cup (which Romania won). They scored 7 goals each for their country in that tournament alone.[9]

In total Wetzer was to play 17 times for Romania scoring 13 goals.[10]

Coaching career

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After retiring as a footballer Wetzer became a trainer. In 1958, during a purge by the ruling national party against "revisionism and bourgeois ideology, indiscipline and descriptive anarchic elements" Wetzer became subject to an order forbidding him from "leaving the collective in which he was engaged without good reason, under penalty of being expelled from the trainers' corps.[11]

Honours

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Player

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Chinezul Timișoara

Juventus București

Coach

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Ripensia Timișoara

References

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  1. ^ "File de poveste – perioada Juventus! Episodul XI – TITLUL DISTRICTUAL DECIS ŞI DE O CONTESTAŢIE" [Story files - the Juventus period! Episode XI - THE DISTRICT TITLE DECIDED AND BY A CONTEST] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Спорт - Центральный Еврейский Ресурс. Сайт русскоязычных евреев всего мира. Еврейские новости. Еврейские фамилии". Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  3. ^ "Povestile fotbalului. De ce iubim atat de mult fotbalul? Rudy Wetzer, capitanul nationalei de la CM Uruguay 1930, are cuvantul" [Football stories. Why do we love football so much? Rudy Wetzer, the national team captain at the 1930 WC in Uruguay has the word] (in Romanian). hotnews.ro. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  4. ^ Juventus Bucuresti
  5. ^ "Rudolf Wetzer". Olympedia. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  6. ^ Fotbal Minut Cu Minut – Romanian Soccer | Anul 1932 | Ripensia, Cao, Antrenor, RomÂnia, Bodola
  7. ^ "Rudolf Wetzer". Magyarfutball. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  8. ^ 50. godina BFS, page 37 (in Serbian)
  9. ^ "Balkan Cup (for Nations) 1929/31". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  10. ^ "Rudolf Wetzer". European Football. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  11. ^ Wave Of Purges In Every Field Of Rumanian Public Life
  12. ^ "File de poveste – Episodul X – "JUVENTUS – CAMPIOANA ROMÂNIEI" partea III" [Story files - Episode X - "JUVENTUS - CHAMPION OF ROMANIA" part III] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 22 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
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