Iuliu Bodola

The native form of this personal name is Bodola Gyula. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Iuliu Bodola (Hungarian: Bodola Gyula; 26 February 1912 – 9 September 1992^[2]) was a Romanian-Hungarian footballer who played as a striker. He represented both the Romania and Hungary national team at internationally level.^[1][3] His nickname was Duduş/Dudus.^[4] He is Romania's third all-time top goalscorer, and he is also the all-time top goal scorer of the Balkan Cup.

Iuliu Bodola / Gyula Bodola

Personal information
Date of birth	(1912-02-26)26 February 1912
Place of birth	Brassó, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	9 September 1992(1992-09-09) (aged 80)
Place of death	Budapest, Hungary
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1922–1929	Braşovia Braşov
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1929–1937	CA Oradea	89	(62)
1937–1940	Venus București	61	(47)
1940–1945	Nagyváradi AC	90	(47)
1945–1946	Ferar Cluj	3	(0)
1946–1949	MTK Hungária	83	(35)
Total		329	(192)
International career
1931–1939^[1]	Romania	48	(31)
1940–1948^[1]	Hungary	13	(4)
Managerial career
1946	Ferar Cluj
1950–1951	Szolnoki MÁV
1951–1953	Szombathelyi Haladás
1953–1954	Pécsi Lokomotív
1954–1957	Komlói Bányász SK
1957–1959	Pécsi VS
1959–1960	Gyulai SE
1960–1961	Diósgyőri VTK
1963	Salgótarjáni BTC
1964–1971	Ormosbányai Bányász
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Bodola started his career in 1929 (aged 17) for Clubul Atletic Oradea, before joining Venus București, with whom he was the champion of Divizia A in 1938–39 and 1939–40.^[5] When Northern Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in August 1940, he preferred to play for Nagyváradi AC, and with them he won the Nemzeti Bajnokság I in 1943–44.^[5] After the end of the war, he returned to Romania with Ferar Cluj-Napoca, but in 1946 he left again for Hungary joining MTK, where he lived in Budapest until the end of his life. In November 2008, the Municipal Stadium in Oradea was renamed after him, becoming the Stadionul Iuliu Bodola.

International career

Bodola was a very prolific scorer for the Romania national team, scoring a then-national record of 31 goals in 48 caps. He and Wetzer were the top two goalscorers of the 1929–1931 (first) edition of the Balkan Cup (which Romania won). They scored seven goals each for their country in that tournament alone.^[6] He was also part of the Romania team that won the 1933 Balkan Cup and 1936 Balkan Cup, contributing with two goals in each tournament.^[7][8] With 15 goals in the Balkan Cup, he is the all-time top goal scorer in the competition's history. Bodola was the hero of the 1936 Friendship Cup, scoring a hat-trick in a 3–2 win over Yugoslavia,^[9] and with these three goals, he is also the all-time top goal scorer of the Friendship Cup. This was Bodola's third international hat-trick (the first two having come in 1931, in a friendly against Lithuania and in the 1929-31 Balkan Cup against Greece), which still remains a national record. He played at both the 1934 FIFA World Cup and 1938 FIFA World Cup for Romania, failing to score a single goal at both tournaments.^[10]

When Northern Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in August 1940, he decided to play for the Hungary national team, scoring on his debut on 1 December 1940 against Italy in a 1–1 draw.

For a long time (50 years) he was the absolute top scorer of the Romania national football team - with 31 goals. Subsequently, he was overtaken by Gheorghe Hagi, and then by Adrian Mutu, both with 35 goals scored. Seven decades after retiring, Bodola still occupies the third place in the all-time top scorers list of the Romania national football team, with 31 goals, the first place being shared by Hagi and Mutu, both having 35 goals in Romania's shirt.

"For me, the greatest Romanian footballer of all time was Iuliu Bodola. Neither Nicolae Dobrin, nor Gheorghe Hagi could be compared with him."

Former Romania coach Angelo Niculescu^[11]

Personal life

Bodola died in Budapest in 1993 (aged 80).

His son György Bodola was a Hungarian illustrator.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1931	7	10
	1932	7	4
	1933	5	2
	1934	3	2
	1935	4	1
	1936	4	5
	1937	8	4
	1938	5	1
	1939	5	2
Total		48	31
Hungary	1940	2	1
	1941	3	0
	1942	3	1
	1943	4	2
	1948	1	0
Total		13	4

Scores and results list Romania's and Hungary's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bodola goal.

List of international goals scored by Iuliu Bodola^[12]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
Romania goals
1	10 May 1931	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	Bulgaria	2–0	5–2	1929–31 Balkan Cup
2				3–1
3	28 June 1931	Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Yugoslavia	Yugoslavia	2–1	4–2	1929–31 Balkan Cup
4				4–2
5	26 August 1931	Makabi Stadionas, Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania	1–0	4–2	Friendly
6				2–0
7				4–2
8	29 November 1931	Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	1–0	4–2	1929–31 Balkan Cup
9				2–0
10				4–2
11	8 May 1932	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	Austria Amateurs	3–0	4–1	1931–1934 Central European Cup for Amateurs
12	12 June 1932	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	France	1–0	6–3	Friendly
13				6–3
14	28 June 1932	Beogradski SK Stadium, Belgrade, Yugoslavia	Greece	3–0	3–0	1932 Balkan Cup
15	11 June 1933	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	Yugoslavia	3–0	5–0	1933 Balkan Cup
16				4–0
17	30 December 1934	Leoforos Alexandras Stadium, Athens, Greece	Bulgaria	1–0	3–2	1934–35 Balkan Cup
18				2–0
19	24 June 1935	Levski Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Greece	1–2	2–2	1935 Balkan Cup
20	10 May 1936	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	Yugoslavia	1–0	3–2	1936 King Carol's Cup
21				2–1
22				3–1
23	17 May 1936	Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania	Greece	1–0	5–2	1936 Balkan Cup
24				5–2
25	18 April 1937		Czechoslovakia	1–0	1–1	1937–38 Eduard Benes Cup
26	4 July 1937	Stadion ŁKS, Łódź, Poland	Poland	3–1	4–2	Friendly
27	8 July 1937	Makabi Stadionas, Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania	2–0	2–0	Friendly
28	14 July 1937	Kadrioru Staadion, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–1	1–2	Friendly
29	4 December 1938	Stadion Letná, Prague, Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovakia	2–0	2–6	1937–38 Eduard Benes Cup
30	18 May 1939	Stadionul Venus, Bucharest, Romania	Latvia	1–0	4–0	Friendly
31				4–0
Hungary goals
1	1 December 1940	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy	Italy	1–0	1–1	Friendly
2	1 November 1942	Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary	Switzerland	1–0	3–0	Friendly
3	16 May 1943	Charmilles Stadium, Geneva, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–1	3–1	Friendly
4				3–1

Honours

Venus București

• Romanian Championship League: 1938–39, 1939–40^[5]

Nagyváradi AC

• Hungarian Championship League: 1943–44^[5]

Romania

• Balkan Cup: 1929–31, 1933, 1936

Individual

• Balkan Cup top scorer: 1929–31 with 7 goals

References

1. "Iuliu Bodola – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
2. "Ezen a napon született Bodola Gyula, aki két ország válogatottjában is pályára lépett".
3. "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
4. Iuliu „Duduş“ Bodola, golgheterul antisemit. adevarul.ro.
5. "Iuliu Bodola – Stats". Romanian Soccer. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
6. "Balkan Cup (for Nations) 1929/31". RSSSF.
7. "Balkan Cup 1933 results". football.eu.
8. "Balkan Cup 1936 results". football.eu.
9. "Romania vs Yugoslavia international football match report". football.eu.
10. "Iuliu Bodola - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF.
11. Iuliu „Duduş“ Bodola, golgheterul antisemit. Adevarul.ro (26 March 2011). Retrieved on 2017-05-29.
12. "Iuliu Bodola - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 May 2022.

External links

• – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Iuliu Bodola at WorldFootball.net
• Iuliu Bodola at National-Football-Teams.com
• Iuliu Bodola at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Iuliu Bodola player profile at Labtof.ro
• Iuliu Bodola manager profile at Labtof.ro