Zoltan Crișan

Zoltan Crișan (; 3 May 1955 – 14 October 2003) was a Romanian international footballer of Hungarian ethnicity who played for Minerul Baia Mare, Universitatea Craiova, Bihor Oradea, Olt Scornicești and Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea. He reached the semi-finals of the 1982–83 UEFA Cup with "U" Craiova.

Club career Crișan was born on 9 December 1956 in Oradea, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Minerul Baia Mare in 1969. He started his senior career by playing for Minerul during the 1973–74 Divizia B season.

Crișan went on to play 10 seasons for "U" Craiova, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation that won two consecutive league titles in 1980 and 1981. At the first one he contributed with three goals scored in the 29 appearances given to him by coach Valentin Stănescu and in the second he netted a career best of 10 goals in the 29 matches that coach Ion Oblemenco used him.

Crișan played 30 games and scored five goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions. Afterwards, they reached the quarter-finals in the 1981–82 European Cup by eliminating Olympiacos and Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, with him scoring a goal against the latter, being eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Bayern Munich. He made 10 appearances in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup campaign, with Crișan scoring once against Kaiserslautern, as they reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated by Benfica on the away goal rule after 1–1 on aggregate.

In 1984, Crișan went to play for his hometown club, Bihor Oradea. His last Divizia A appearance took place on 10 May 1987 in Chimia's 2–1 home loss to SC Bacău, totaling 304 matches with 50 goals in the competition.

International career From 1973 to 1977, Crișan was consistently featured for Romania's under-18, under-21, under-23, Olympic and B teams.

Crișan played 41 matches and scored four goals for Romania, making his debut on 4 December 1974 when coach Valentin Stănescu sent him at halftime to replace Mircea Lucescu in a 1–0 friendly victory against Israel. Subsequently, he played five matches in the Euro 1976 qualifiers and scored four goals of which one was in a 1–1 draw against Spain, two were netted in a 6–1 win over Denmark and the final one was in a 1–1 draw against Scotland. Crișan played three matches in the 1977–80 Balkan Cup, including a 4–1 victory against Yugoslavia in the final. He also played five games during the Euro 1980 qualifiers.

Personal life and death In 2003, Crișan received the Honorary Citizen of Craiova title.

Crișan died of tuberculosis on 14 October 2003 at the age of 48 in Craiova.

Ion Jianu, a Romanian journalist, wrote a book about his life titled Patimile lui Crișan (The Passions of Crișan) published in 2004. Another book about him was written by sports commentator Ilie Dobre, titled Zoltan Crișan, irezistibila extremă (Zoltan Crișan, the irresistible winger), which was also released in 2004.

Honours Universitatea Craiova Divizia A: 1979–80, 1980–81 Cupa României: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83 Romania Balkan Cup: 1977–80