Florea Birtașu (1 February 1930 – 9 February 2018) was a Romanian football goalkeeper.
Club career Birtașu was born on 1 February 1930 and began playing football in 1950 at Flacăra Roșie București. In 1951, he joined Flacăra București where under the guidance of coach Gheorghe Bărbulescu he made his Divizia A debut on 16 June 1951 in a 0–0 draw against CCA București. Afterwards he went to play at CA Câmpulung Moldovenesc for two years. In 1954 he signed with Dinamo București, where his first performance was reaching the 1954 Cupa României final, but coach Angelo Niculescu did not use him in the eventual 2–0 loss to Metalul Reșița. In the following season, Birtașu helped the club win the first Divizia A title in its history, being used by Niculescu in 18 games. He played in the first European match for a Romanian team during the 1956–57 European Cup, a 3–1 victory against Galatasaray. The Red Dogs advanced to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, Birtașu making two appearances in the campaign. In 1957 he went to play for Progresul București, winning with them the 1959–60 Cupa României, but coach Augustin Botescu did not use him in the 2–0 win in the final against Dinamo Obor București. In 1960, after totaling 96 Divizia A appearances, Birtașu went to play for CFR Roșiori in Divizia B for a few years.
International career Birtașu played three games for Romania, making his debut under coach Ștefan Dobay in a 1–0 loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. His following two games were friendlies, a 1–0 victory against Norway and a 4–1 loss to Sweden.
Death Birtașu died on 9 February 2018 at age 88.
Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 1955 Cupa României runner-up: 1954 Progresul București Cupa României: 1959–60
Notes
References
External links Florea Birtașu at Labtof.ro