[4] Lajos Sătmăreanu, nicknamed Facchetti of the Carpathians was born on 21 February 1944 in Salonta, Romania and started to play football in 1958 at local club, Recolta.

[7] German club Hertha BSC wanted to sign Sătmăreanu after his performance at the 1970 World Cup, but Romania's communist regime refused to let him go.

Lajos Sătmăreanu played for Romania in 42 matches, scoring one goal, making his debut under coach Bazil Marian in a 1–1 friendly against Uruguay, which took place in Montevideo on Estadio Gran Parque Central.

[3][10] He played six games at the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers, also being used by coach Angelo Niculescu in all the minutes of the three group matches from the final tournament as Romania did not advance to the next stage.

[12] Lajos Sătmăreanu worked as a coach at the juvenile level, mostly at Steaua București where between 1977 and 2011 he taught and formed generations of players, which include Daniel Gherasim, Dan Petrescu, Marius Mitu, Robert Niță and George Ogăraru.