 | |||
| Full name | Maccabi București | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | Maccabi | ||
| Founded | 15 May 1919 | ||
| Dissolved | 1948 | ||
| Ground | Calea Dudeşti | ||
Maccabi orMacabi București, later known asCiocanul, was aRomanian sport club, representing theJewish community, akin to the famousHakoah Vienna. Named after theMaccabees and centering onfootball competitions, it was the firstJewish side to send a player, the goalkeeperSamuel Zauber, to theFIFA World Cup (at its1930 edition inUruguay).
Maccabi București was founded in 1919 by a Jewish entrepreneur at a time when representatives of theethnic minorities ofGreater Romania established distinctive football sides (another such example wasElpis Constanța, which was owned by aGreek-Romanian businessman).[1] In 1925, a women's seven-a-sidehandball team was inaugurated as a branch of the Maccabi club, but, like all Romanian teams of the time, only playedexhibition games (usually, as a prelude to competitive football matches).[2]
Before the 1940–1941 season, at a time when Romania adoptedantisemitic policies, the club was expelled from official competitions. It reemerged in 1945 at the end ofWorld War II and kept its name before merging with another club to formCiocanul.[3]
For the 1946 season, the club was coached by Hungarian coachBéla Guttmann, who went on to coach many prominent European and South American teams of the 1940s and 1950s.[4] Due to food shortages, Guttmann insisted his salary be paid in vegetables.[5][6] He subsequently walked out on the Romanian club after a director attempted to intervene in team selection.[7] German journalist Hardy Grune believed that he was frustrated with the corruption in the Romanian soccer world.[6]
As Ciocanul, the club played in two seasons inDivizia A. In May 1948, it merged withUnirea Tricolor București, to create the present-day major Romanian clubDinamo, which was administrated by theMinistry of the Interior.[8] During the 1947–1948 season they remained two separate clubs:Dinamo A (Ciocanul) andDinamo B (Unirea-Tricolor).[8]
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