Petre Libardi


Petre Libardi was a Romanian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

Club career

Libardi was born on 27 August 1942 in Câmpulung-Muscel and began playing football at Minerul Câmpulung. He went for a short period to Dinamo Pitești, but then returned to Minerul.
In 1963, Libardi joined Jiul Petroșani in Divizia B. He helped them gain promotion to Divizia A three years later. He made his debut in the competition on 21 August 1966 under coach Ștefan Coidum in a 7–0 victory against Steagul Roșu Brașov. His first performance with The Miners was reaching the 1972 Cupa României final, where coach Eugen Iordache used him the entire match in the eventual 2–0 loss to Rapid București. Libardi eventually won the competition two years later after a 4–2 victory against Politehnica Timișoara in the 1974 final, as coach Traian Ivănescu used him the full 90 minutes, helping Jiul win its first trophy. Afterwards he played in both legs against Dundee United in the first round of the 1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup which was lost with 3–2 on aggregate. In May 1975, during a Jiul – Politehnica Iași home game, the wooden stand of the stadium started to burn due to a cigarette thrown into a pile of seed husks. Libardi, along with teammates Gogu Tonca and Andrei Stocker jumped in to help the firefighters extinguish the fire. Libardi was Jiul's captain ten years from 1965 until 1975, a period in which he appeared in 238 Divizia A games and scored 47 goals. His last appearance in the competition occurred on 29 June 1975 in a 2–1 away loss to Universitatea Cluj.

International career

Libardi played two games for Romania, making his debut under coach Bazil Marian in a 1–1 friendly draw against Uruguay, which took place in Montevideo at Estadio Gran Parque Central. His second game was also a friendly which ended in a 0–0 draw against Poland.

Managerial career

After he retired, Libardi worked as a manager, first in the Romanian lower leagues for clubs such as Victoria Călan, Minerul Lupeni and Paroșeni Vulcan. His most notable performances were two spells in Divizia A at Jiul Petroșani, one in the early 1980s and the other in 1990. He also served as Jiul's president.

Personal life and death

In 2001 Libardi was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Petroșani title. He died on 14 August 2005 at age 62. In 2019, at 100 years after Jiul Petroșani was founded, the authorities decided to change the name of the local stadium from Jiul to "Petre Libardi" in his honor.

Honours

Jiul Petroșani