Coloman Braun-Bogdan

Coloman Braun-Bogdan (13 October 1905 – 15 March 1983) was a Romanian football midfielder and football manager.

Coloman Braun-Bogdan was born on 13 October 1905 in Arad, Arad County, which was at the time part of Austria-Hungary, he started to play football in 1920 when he was 14 years old at local club, AMEF, making a name for himself as one of the best Romanian midfielders of the interwar period.

In 1933 Coloman Braun-Bogdan took the coaching courses of the British football school from Folkestone, later studying in Romania at the O.N.E.F. School of Football and in 1939 he was one of the founding members of the National Romanian School of Coaches.

His coaching career started in 1936 at Sportul Studențesc București which he helped promote from Divizia B to Divizia A while he was still an active player at Juventus București in Divizia A.

In the 1937–38 Divizia A season he worked at Juventus as a player-coach, finishing the championship on the 4th place, also earning a historical 5–1 victory with which they eliminated Ripensia Timișoara from the Cupa României, a team that would eventually win the championship that season.

In the following season he worked only as a coach, earning another historical victory against Ripensia, this time a 7–2 in the league, but after finishing the first half on the 8th place he was dismissed.

In 1932 he went to play two seasons in France at Racing Club Calais, afterwards going at Juventus București where he played with a interruption in the 1935–36 season until he ended his career, his final appearance as a footballer taking place on 15 May 1938 in a 4–1 league victory against Universitatea Cluj.

One of Braun-Bogdan's most important achievements as a player was being part of Romania's squad at the 1938 World Cup.

He came back to Juventus in the second half of the 1939–40 season, replacing Gyula Dobo who finished the first half on the last place, but Braun-Bogdan was unable to improve much of the team's performance, managing to bring the team just above the last place, thus relegating at the end of the season in Divizia B.

In 1940 he went to coach Jiul Petroșani, helping the team win promotion to Divizia A, but did not get to play there as the championship was interrupted because of World War II, however he continued to work for the club until 1945.

In 1945 he had a short spell as Romania's national team coach, leading the team in a friendly which ended with a 7–2 away loss in front of Hungary.

In the 1946–47 season he worked at CFR București where he helped the club earn the 5th place in the league and even do he was appreciated by the fans, he moved in 1947 at newly founded club, ASA București where he was dismissed after 15 rounds because of poor results.

In 1948 he became the first coach of Dinamo București where he also did not have a long spell, staying only a few rounds, including the first derby against his former team, ASA which ended with a 1–0 victory for his side.

In 1949, Braun-Bogdan had his second experience at Romania's national team, this time leading the team together with Emerich Vogl in a 1–1 home friendly against Albania.

Braun-Bogdan had the most successful spell of his career from 1953 until 1954 he coached a team from his native Arad, Flamura Roșie, winning the only trophies of his career which are the 1953 Cupa României after a 1–0 in extra-time in front of CCA București and the 1954 Divizia A.

He then worked for the Romanian Football Federation as a advisor and also as president of the Central College of Coaches until 1958 when he had a second experience at Flamura Roșie which this time was named UTA Arad, then he went for the 1962–63 season at Știința Timișoara with whom he finished the championship on the 3rd position.

He left Știința after a conflict with some of the team's players, going for a third spell at UTA where after a 3–3 against his former team, Știința on their field, the fans of the home team who felt disadvantaged by the referee attacked the locker rooms of the referees and UTA's players, eventually getting into a big fight with the miliția officers, this being the first event that created the rivalry between the two teams which would be known as the West derby.

Afterwards he retired from coaching, going went to work again for the Romanian Football Federation having a total of 230 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 89 victories, 51 draws and 90 losses.

Coloman Braun-Bogdan died on 15 March 1983 at age 77, being remembered as the first coach that worked at all three Bucharest rivals: CFR, ASA and Dinamo.

Coloman Braun-Bogdan wrote two books about moments from his playing and managerial football career:

Sportul Studențesc București

Jiul Petroşani

UTA Arad