Narcis Coman

Narcis Coman was born on 5 November 1946 in Giurgiu, Romania and grew up as a fan of CCA București (for whom he would get to play when the team was named Steaua) and of goalkeeping after seeing a game of the team on TV, being impressed by how Ion Voinescu defended the goal post.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] He started playing football as a goalkeeper when he was about 12 years old with his cousin, going three years later at local club, Olimpia where he was coached by Marin Anastasovici, afterwards moving at neighboring team, Victoria.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9] He started playing senior level football at ȘN Oltenița in the regional championship, helping it promote to Divizia C where after playing only two games he was transferred by UTA Arad and he made his Divizia A debut on 26 September 1965 under coach Nicolae Dumitrescu, managing to keep a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory against Universitatea Craiova.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] After one season he was transferred by Dinamo București who only used him two weeks later as a exchange player for fellow goalkeeper Spiridon Niculescu from Argeș Pitești.[1][4][5][9][10] At Argeș he spent two seasons, making his debut in European competitions, playing all six games from the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, as the team eliminated Sevilla and Toulouse in the first two rounds, being defeated in the third round with 1–0 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb who eventually won the competition, also earning a helping the team earn a runner-up position in his second season spent there.[1][4][5][7][6][8][9][11][12] After Argeș's away game from the second leg of the confrontation against Sevilla which ended 2–2, in the following day he was praised by the Marca newspaper:"Coman managed some phenomenal saves and blocked Sevilla. Even though he conceded two goals, the Romanian closed the gate in some difficult phases", also Sevilla's coach wanted to transfer him at the team but he and the team's officials did not accept as transfers outside the country were not allowed by Romania's communist regime and if he would have accepted the offer he would have risked to not see his family again.[4][11][9][13] Afterwards Coman went to play two seasons for Dinamo București, in the first one earning a runner-up position in the league.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9] After a short period spent in his native Giurgiu at Divizia B club, Dunărea, he returned to Divizia A football when he went to play for Steaua București with whom he won the only trophy of his career, the 1970–71 Cupa României in which however he did not play in the final as coach Ștefan Kovács chose Carol Haidu for the eventual 3–2 victory in front of Dinamo.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][14] During his period of four seasons spent with The Military Men he also played four games in the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and Barcelona, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the away goal rule by Bayern Munich when he was congratulated for the way he defended his goal post after the 0–0 from the second leg by the Germans goalkeeper Sepp Maier.[1][5][7][15][16] Then he went at SC Bacău in Divizia B, where in the first season he helped the team promote to the first league where he played in the following season before transferring at back to Divizia B at CS Târgoviște.[1][4][5][6][7][8] As with Bacău, he helped the team from Târgoviște gain promotion to Divizia A after one season where he would have the best period in his career, managing to become the first goalkeeper to earn the Romanian Footballer of the Year award in 1978. An important match which helped him achieve this performance was keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 against Universitatea Craiova for which he received a 10 in the Sportul newspaper.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][17] After making his last Divizia A appearance on 12 March 1980, playing for CS Târgoviște in a 2–2 against Jiul Petroșani, Coman went back to his native Giurgiu to play for FCM where he retired after playing only a few games, having a total of 214 Divizia A appearances and 12 matches in European competitions (including 8 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).[1][4][5][6][9][17]

Narcis Coman played 8 games (12 including Romania's Olympic team games) at international level for Romania, making his debut on 29 October 1967 under coach Constantin Teașcă in a friendly against Poland in which he played all the minutes, managing to keep a clean sheet as the game ended 0–0.[2][6][18] He played injured in a 3–0 away loss against Portugal at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers and as he conceded three goals, coach Angelo Niculescu blamed him for the loss, however Coman claims that he told Niculescu about his injury before the game, this controversy resulting in a absence of 10 years from the national team's squad for Coman until 1978 when he was called up by Ștefan Kovács to play in a 1–0 away loss against Spain at the Euro 1980 qualifiers.[2][5][7][9][19] His last appearance for the national team took place on 11 December 1978 in a friendly which ended 1–1 in front of Israel.[2]

Narcis Coman who was nicknamed "Campionul reflexelor" (The Champion of Reflexes) by the press for his spectacular saves, claimed that he did not enjoy his spells at Dinamo and Steaua because of the very strict rules that were at those clubs but he enjoyed the spells at Argeș Pitești and CS Târgoviște.[4][5][6][9] He was known for playing most of his career without gloves because he felt that he had a better grip that way, as a consequence ending up with three broken fingers and he was also known for his bohemian lifestyle outside the field, being considered a ladies' man and for liking to party and drink in pubs, especially with his friend and Argeș Pitești colleague Nicolae Dobrin, claiming that these activities did not affect his performance on the football field.[4][5][6][7][9][10] In 2009 Coman was decorated with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") and in 2013 he received the Honorary Citizen of Giurgiu title.[4][7][8] A book about him was written Gelu Brebenel, called Narcis Coman - prin viață fără mănuși (Narcis Coman - through life without gloves) which was published in 2017.[8][20][21]

• Narcis Coman at WorldFootball.net