Gheorghe Șerbănoiu

Gheorghe Șerbănoiu (15 October 1950 – 25 March 2013) was a Romanian former footballer who played as a right midfielder.

Career
Gheorghe Șerbănoiu was born on 15 October 1950 in Brașov, Romania, starting to play football at local club Steagul Roșu when in the 1968–69 Divizia B season, coach Valentin Stănescu gave him his debut in senior football, the team earning promotion to the first league at the end of it. In the following season he made his Divizia A debut on 5 April 1970 when Stănescu used him in a 1–0 away loss in front of Dinamo București. He spent a total of six seasons in the first league with Steagul, the highlights of this period being a third place in the 1973–74 season and four games played in the 1974–75 UEFA Cup, including a 3–2 victory on aggregate against Beşiktaş in which he scored a brace in the final minutes of the 3–0 victory from the second leg, also scoring a goal against Hamburg in the defeat from the following round.

In 1975, Șerbănoiu went to play for Politehnica Timișoara where he would make a successful couple in the central defense with Dan Păltinișanu, his first performance being a third place in the 1977–78 season. Afterwards he won the only trophy of his career, the 1979–80 Cupa României, being used by coach Ion Ionescu all the minutes in the 2–1 win over Steaua București from the final. He then helped the club eliminate Celtic in the first round of the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup. In the following years he helped Poli reach two more Cupa României finals, which were both lost in front of Universitatea Craiova, Șerbănoiu appearing in only one of the finals, the one from 1983 when coach Emerich Dembrovschi used him all the minutes in the 2–1 loss. Also at the end of the 1982–83 season, the club relegated to Divizia B but he stayed with Poli, helping them promote back after one year. Gheorghe Șerbănoiu has a total of 286 appearances with 23 goals scored in Divizia A and 11 matches with three goals in European competitions.

Later life and death
In the 1990s he went to live in Germany with his wife. One day she stabbed him out of jealousy, after which she committed suicide by jumping from the floor of the building they were living in.

In 2009 Șerbănoiu received the Honorary Citizen of Timișoara title.

He died on 25 March 2013 at age 62.

Honours
Steagul Roșu Brașov Politehnica Timișoara
 * Divizia B: 1968–69
 * Divizia B: 1983–84
 * Cupa României: 1979–80, runner-up 1980–81, 1982–83