Ștefan Sameș

Ștefan Sameș (14 October 1951 – 17 July 2011) was a Romanian professional football player and manager.

Club career

"Ștefan was a special man and a devoted and strong footballer. When he shot at the goal, he would make the ball go oval, like the one at rugby." — Marcel Răducanu, former Steaua teammate In 1971, he was loaned to Universitatea Craiova where he started his senior career, making his Divizia A debut on 28 November under coach Constantin Cernăianu in a 1–1 draw against Petrolul Ploiești.

After two seasons spent at "U" Craiova, Sameș returned to Steaua. In the following season he reached another Cupa României final, Jenei using him the entire match in the eventual 2–1 loss to his former club, Universitatea Craiova. In the 1977–78 season, Sameș scored one goal in the 21 league games that Jenei used him, helping the club win another title. The first one was a 3–0 win over Sportul Studențesc București and in the 1980 final, the team lost with 2–1 to Politehnica Timișoara. For the way he played in 1979, Sameș was placed first in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.

In the middle of the 1982–83 season, Sameș joined FC Constanța where he was teammates with a young Gheorghe Hagi. His following game was Romania's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 win against Finland in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers. He played in all four games during the 1978 World Cup qualifiers which included two wins and two losses against Spain and Yugoslavia.

International goals Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sameș goal.

Afterwards he coached at Steaua's youth academy from 1992 until 2011.

Personal life and death Sameș had two siblings, Petruța and Gheorghiță. Two-time Champions League winner Miodrag Belodedici claimed that Sameș was his childhood idol, the two being teammates for a short while at Steaua.

On 17 July 2011, Sameș died in a Bucharest hospital at the age of 59 after suffering from cancer.

Honours Player Steaua București Divizia A: 1975–76, 1977–78 Cupa României: 1975–76, 1978–79, runner-up 1976–77, 1979–80 Romania Balkan Cup: 1977–80 Individual Romanian Footballer of the Year: 1979