Mircea Luca

Playing career

"An ideal centre-back, unsurpassed heading, very good clearances on both sides, striking the ball with both feet perfectly and a superb spirit of self-sacrifice hard to imagine, to which is added the attachment to Universitatea for 25 years" — Dr. Constantin Rădulescu talking about Mircea Luca In the first home game of the following season, Luca was also used as a winger by new coach Janos Szaniszló, scoring a brace in a 7–0 victory against Stăruința Oradea Those were his only two goals in his total of five appearances in the season, at the end of which the club finished second and gained promotion to Divizia A. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War and the return of the northern part of Transylvania to Romania, "U" returned to its home in Cluj. After the war in which some of the club's players died, the team had to earn its right to play in Cluj, having to defeat Ferar Cluj. In the 1950 Divizia B season, Luca played 19 games, helping the club finish in first place and gain back promotion to the first league. In that season, he even played in a 2–1 win over Locomotiva Cluj from the beginning as a goalkeeper because the usual goalkeeper Crăciun got injured two days before the game. In the following six years, the team played in the first league with Luca's style of play being appreciated by the journalists. He has a total of 176 appearances with one goal scored in Divizia A, and also he is known for playing for at least one game on all the main positions in football: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward. He coached the team once more, but just for one round by the end of the 1972–73 Divizia A season, obtaining a draw in the Cluj derby against CFR Cluj.

Personal life

He also worked as an ENT surgeon. In 1994, he received the Honorary Citizen of Cluj-Napoca title.

Luca died on 29 July 2008.

Honours Universitatea Cluj Divizia B: 1950 Cupa României runner-up: 1941–42, 1948–49