Vilmos Zombori

Vilmos Zombori (11 January 1906 – 17 January 1993) was a Romanian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was also known as William Zombory.

Vilmos Zombori was born on 11 January 1906 in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary (now Romania), growing up in a family in which he had eight brothers.^[2][3][4] He started to play junior level football in 1919 at Chinezul Timișoara, starting his senior career in 1925 in the regional league at Sparta CFR Timișoara.^[2] After one year he went back at Chinezul, being brought as a replacement for Adalbert Ritter, winning the 1926–27 title, being used by coaches Frontz Dőme and Jenő Konrád in 11 games.^{[1][2][5][6][7]}

In 1930, Zombori went at Ripensia Timișoara, winning the 1932–33 title, being the first-choice goalkeeper, coach Konrád using him in 11 games in which he scored one goal, including playing in the final with Universitatea Cluj.^[1][2][7][8] In the following season he helped the team reach the 1934 Cupa României final, playing in both victories with Universitatea Cluj, winning the cup.^[2][9] In the 1934–35 season he won another title, coaches Josef Uridil and Rudolf Wetzer giving him only seven appearances in which he scored one goal, as Dumitru Pavlovici was first-choice goalkeeper, also the team reached the Cupa României final where he played and scored a goal in the 6–5 loss with CFR București.^{[1][2][10][11][12]} Next season, Zombori helped Ripensia win The Double, being given eight appearances by coaches Wetzer and Konrád, but in the 5–1 win over Unirea Tricolor București from the Cupa României final, his competitor, Pavlovici was preferred.^{[1][2][10][11][13]} In the 1936–37 season, Zombori scored two goals in five games, then in his last season he made only one appearance, coach Sepp Pojar preferring to use Pavlovici in the other games.^[1][2][10]

He ended his career after playing a few years in the Romanian lower leagues at ILSA Timișoara and Politehnica Timișoara.^[2][3][4]

With five goals scored, Zombori is the goalkeeper with most goals scored in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A.^{[2][3][4][14][15]}

Vilmos Zombori played six games at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Teofil Morariu on 3 October 1926 in a 3–2 win over Yugoslavia at the friendly King Alexander's Cup.^[16][17] He then played in a 5–1 victory with Hungary at the successful 1931–34 Central European Cup for Amateurs.^[16][18] Zombori played in a 2–2 with Switzerland at the successful 1934 World Cup qualifiers, being selected by coaches Josef Uridil and Constantin Rădulescu to be part of the squad at the final tournament where he played in a first round exit as they were defeated with 2–1 by eventual finalists, Czechoslovakia.^[3][16] At the 1934–35 Balkan Cup which was hosted by Greece, Romania had to face Yugoslavia in the last game of the tournament which if won could have earned them the trophy, but its goalkeeper Anghel Crețeanu got injured, so coach Alexandru Săvulescu asked for Andrei Sepci and Zombori to come for the game.^[19] Eventually Zombori played in the game with the Yugoslavs which ended with a 4–0 loss, that being his last appearance for the national team.^[16][19]

After he ended his playing career, Zombori worked from 1949 until 1951 as a coach at Vulturii Lugoj, afterwards working until 1957 as a referee.^[20]

Vilmos Zombori died on 17 January 1993 at age 87.^[2][3][4]

Chinezul Timișoara

• Divizia A: 1926–27^[2][21]

Ripensia Timișoara

• Divizia A: 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38^[2][21]
• Cupa României: 1933–34, 1935–36, runner-up 1934–35^{[2][9][12][13][21]}

Romania

• Central European International Cup: 1931–34^[16][18]

Individual

• Most goals scored by a goalkeeper in Divizia A: 5 goals^[14][15]

• Vilmos Zombori at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Vilmos Zombori at WorldFootball.net