Iosif Varga

Iosif "Piți" Varga (4 December 1941 – 22 May 1992) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a forward or winger.

Club career Varga, nicknamed Piți, was born on 4 December 1941 in the Vitan neighborhood of Bucharest, Romania, growing up in the Pantelimon neighborhood. At the age of 10 he went to play football at the junior squads of Dinamo București where he worked with coach Petre Steinbach. On 24 August 1958, Varga became the youngest player who scored in his Divizia A debut match, when at 16 years, 8 months and 20 days he netted a hat-trick against Steagul Roșu Brașov in a 6–0 victory. At the end of his first season, coach Iuliu Baratky used him the entire match in the 4–0 win over CSM Baia Mare in the 1959 Cupa României final. In 1961, coach Traian Ionescu used him as the team's game coordinator, helping them win the 1961–62 title by scoring four goals in 15 appearances. Among these goals was one from a penalty in a 1–0 derby win over Steaua București, a team against which he previously scored on two other occasions in the earlier seasons.

In the next three seasons, Varga helped The Red Dogs win another three titles, working with coaches such as Ionescu, Nicolae Dumitru and Angelo Niculescu in the process. He also made three appearances in the European Cup. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 10 November 1968 in a 3–0 victory against Universitatea Cluj, totaling 120 matches with 29 goals in the competition. His second game was a 1–1 draw against Poland.

Coaching career After he retired from playing football, Varga worked at Dinamo București's youth center, where he taught generations of players, including Florin Răducioiu, Ioan Lupescu, Bogdan Stelea, Florin Prunea and Florin Tene.

Death Varga died on 22 May 1992 in his native Bucharest at the age of 50.

Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 Cupa României: 1958–59, 1963–64, 1967–68