Today marks the 80th birthday of a true legend of Transylvanian Hungarian football, Imre Dembrovszki. During our trip to Arad, we paid him a visit and brought a small token of appreciation.

Today marks the 80th birthday of a true legend of Transylvanian Hungarian football, Imre Dembrovszki. During our trip to Arad, we paid him a visit and brought a small token of appreciation.

Dembrószky – or as most people know him, Imre Dembrovszki – was one of the standout players of the Romanian national team that competed at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. He was born on October 6, 1945, in Câmpulung, Maramureș County. He achieved his greatest successes with SC Bacău and Politehnica Timișoara and earned 27 caps for the Romanian national team. As a coach, he worked with Politehnica Timișoara, helping nurture many talented young players. About all this and much more, the former footballer and coach—now living in Dumbrăvița, near Timișoara, the city he has become deeply connected to—spoke in a four-part life-story interview published two years ago on FK Csíkszereda’s website.

The legend, who still speaks Hungarian fluently, used to play football regularly until a few years ago, but lately he has been struggling with health issues, while his wife has also become bedridden, making their daily lives more difficult. Even so, he warmly welcomed the guest from Csíkszereda and was visibly moved when he received a special, personalized FK Csíkszereda jersey made just for him. He shared that he closely follows the matches of both FC Barcelona and FK Csíkszereda—previously with some frustration regarding the latter, but now with great satisfaction, seeing the Szekler team finally secure its first-ever victory in Romania’s top division, for which he offered his heartfelt congratulations.

We wish him long life and good health — happy birthday, Imre Dembrovszki!

Rédai Attila