The former Romanian footballer with 226 matches in the first league has died » He scored on Arsenal's field in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup
Article by Ovidiu Minea – Published Monday, February 23, 2026, 7:53 p.m. / Updated Monday, February 23, 2026, 7:53 p.m.
Romanian football is in mourning again. Former well-known footballers of Bacău announced today that Petre Băluță has passed away.
Born on January 1, 1945, Băluță played for 12 years in the team from the city of Bacovia, between 1966 and 1978, during which he played 226 matches in the first league. Extremely high-speed, nicknamed “Mobra”, after the name of the Romanian motorcycle famous in those days, Băluță arrived in Bacău from Dinamo Obor, at the express request of coach Constantin “Titi” Teașcă.
With Teașca at the helm, Bacău was promoted to Division A, and then became one of the best teams in Romania.
He scored on Arsenal's pitch
The greatest performance of the band, in which, among others, the internationals Aristică Ghiță and Emerich Dembroschi played, was the qualification in the quarter-finals of the Fair Cities Cup, the future UEFA Cup, a phase in which Inter Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Anderlecht and Arsenal had also reached.
Dinamo Bacău, as the future Sport Club was then called, was then eliminated by the Londoners (who then won the trophy) after 0-2 and 1-7 in London. The goal of the Bacauans was scored by Băluță, with a header.
The first Romanian team in the IV round of a European cup
Dinamo Bacău was, in 1970, the first Romanian team to reach the fourth round of a European cup. Until the double with Arsenal, the Moldovans had passed Floriana La Valetta (Malta), with 6-0 and 1-0, Skeid Oslo (Norway), after 0-0 and 2-0, and FC Kilmarnock (Scotland), with 1-1 and 2-0.
Baluță also scored in that European campaign at home, with the Maltese, but also in Scotland, in the draw that opened the way to the “quarters”.
