Dumitru Macri

Dumitru Macri
Personal information
Date of birth (1931-04-28)28 April 1931
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Date of death 20 March 2024(2024-03-20) (aged 92)
Place of death Paris, France
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Position(s) Central defender
Youth career
1947–1949 Flacăra Roșie București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1950–1965 Rapid București[a] 221 (1)
International career
1956–1957 Romania B[3] 2 (0)
1959 Romania Olympic[3] 2 (0)
1958–1962 Romania 8 (0)
Managerial career
1971 CFR Timișoara
1971–1973 RC Kouba
1973 Rapid București
1974–1975 Algeria
1978–1980 Viitorul Scornicești
1981 Romania U20 (assistant)
1984 Olt Scornicești
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dumitru Macri (28 April 1931 – 20 March 2024) was a Romanian football player and coach.[4]

Club career

Dumitru Macri was born on 28 April 1931 in Bucharest, Romania and started to play football in 1947 at junior level at Flacăra Roșie București, afterwards he went to play at senior level at Rapid București, masking his Divizia A debut on 19 March 1950 in a 0–0 against Știința Timișoara, ending the season on the second place, losing the title in favor of Flamura Roșie Arad with whom they had the same number of points but inferior goal average.[1][2][5][6][7] He spent all of his career at Rapid București which consisted of 15 seasons in which he was the club's captain between 1952 and 1966, the highlights of this period being another two runner-up positions in the first league, the reaching of two Cupa României finals in 1961 and 1962 under the guidance of coach Ion Mihăilescu which were lost in front of Arieșul Turda respectively Steaua București, also the winning of the 1957 Cupa Primăverii and the 1963–64 Balkans Cup.[1][2][5][6][7][8][9][10] In 1961, Macri became the first Romanian footballer to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or.[5][6][11][12] During his stay at Rapid București, the club relegated twice to Divizia B, but Macri stayed with the club each time, helping it promote back to the first division.[1][6][7] Macri made his last Divizia A appearance on 27 June 1965 in a 2–1 victory against Crișul Oradea, having a total of 221 matches with one goal scored in the competition against Flamura Roșie Arad in 1954 with a shot from about 60 meters in a eventual 3–2 loss.[1][5][6][7][13] During his career, Macri had offers from Bucharest rivals, Dinamo and Steaua, also from Greek club, Panathinaikos but he refused to leave Rapid every time.[7]

International career

Macri played eight games for Romania, making his debut under coach Augustin Botescu on 26 October 1958 in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against Hungary.[2][14][15] His second game was a 3–0 victory against Turkey at the 1960 European Nations' Cup qualifiers, but his best game played for the national team is considered to be a 1–0 victory in a friendly against Turkey after which a Turkish journalist who saw the game and also was one of the 19 journalists who sent nominations to France Football for the 1961 Ballon d'Or, chose Macri on his list of nominees sent to the magazine.[6][14] His last game played for the national team took place on 1 November 1962 in a 6–0 loss against Spain at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers.[14] He also appeared twice for Romania's Olympic team at the 1960 Summer Olympics qualifiers.[3][13][14]

Coaching career

Macri was manager at CFR Timișoara, Rapid București and Olt Scornicești in Divizia A, also managing in Algeria, firstly from 1971 until 1973 at RC Kouba, then the Algerian national team from 1974 until 1975.[5][6][7][13][16][17][18] In 1981 he was Constantin Cernăianu's assistant at Romania's under-20 national team that obtained a third place at the FIFA World Youth Championship.[19][20]

Personal life

Macri's family comes from Ampelochori, a small village near Kalabaka, Greece.[21] He left Romania in 1986, moving to France with his son, an architect, being forced to do so by Romania's communist regime who was bothered that he had relatives living outside the country.[8][19]

Macri died on 20 March 2024, at the age of 92.[16][22][23]

Honours

Rapid București

Individual

Notes

  1. ^ The appearances and goals scored at the 1957 unofficial championship called Cupa Primăverii are not official, also the statistics for the 1952 and 1955 Divizia B seasons are unavailable.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dumitru Macri at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. ^ a b c d e Dumitru Macri at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. ^ a b c "Dumitru Macri profile". 11v11. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  4. ^ Dumitru Macri at WorldFootball.net
  5. ^ a b c d e "Povestea lui Tache Macri" [Tache Macri's story] (in Romanian). Independentaromana.ro. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Fotbaliști de legendă: Tache Macri (primul fotbalist român nominalizat la Balonul de Aur)" [Legendary footballers: Tache Macri (the first Romanian footballer nominated for the Golden Ball)] (in Romanian). Tikitaka.ro. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Take Macri s-a alaturat Galeriei din Ceruri. Legenda Rapidului avea 92 de ani" [Take Macri joined the Gallery in the Heavens. The legend of Rapid was 92 years old] (in Romanian). 1923.ro. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Take Macri, suparat foc pe Romania: Popor ingrat, nu vei avea nici oasele mele!" (in Romanian). Ziare. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1960 - 1961". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1961 - 1962". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  11. ^ a b Pierrend, José Luis (1 February 2006). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1961". RSSSF. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  12. ^ a b "Dumitru Macri, primul fotbalist român nominalizat la Balonul de Aur! Gică Hagi, aproape de succes în 1994" [Dumitru Macri, the first Romanian footballer nominated for the Golden Ball! Gica Hagi, almost successful in 1994] (in Romanian). Fanatik.ro. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  13. ^ a b c "A murit un simbol al Giuleștiului, Tache Macri! A jucat 15 sezoane la Rapid" [A symbol of Giulesti, Tache Macri, died! He played 15 seasons at Rapid] (in Romanian). 100sport.ro. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  14. ^ a b c d "Dumitru Macri profile". EU Football. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Romania 1-2 Hungary". EU Football. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Deces de Dumitru Macri : Les condoleances du president de la FAF" [Death of Dumitru Macri: Condolences from the president of the FAF] (in French). Faz.de. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Dumitru Macri manager profile". Labtof. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Algeria National Team Coaches". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  19. ^ a b "A murit Dumitru "Take" Macri, primul român nominalizat la Balonul de Aur" [Dumitru "Take" Macri, the first Romanian nominated for the Ballon d'Or, has died] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Acum 34 de ani România a fost mai aproape ca oricând de titlul mondial la fotbal. Povestea echipei care a obţinut cea mai mare performanţă pentru FRF" [34 years ago, Romania was closer than ever to the world football title. The story of the team that achieved the highest performance for FRF] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 7 August 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Ο Θρύλος της Ραπίντ Βουκουρεστίου απο το Αμπελοχώρι Καλαμπάκας – Sportrikala.gr".
  22. ^ "A murit Dumitru Macri, primul fotbalist român nominalizat la Balonul de Aur" [Dumitru Macri, the first Romanian footballer nominated for the Ballon d'Or, has died] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  23. ^ "A murit Tache Macri, primul român nominalizat la Balonul de Aur! Este o legendă pentru Rapid, fiind căpitan al echipei în 14 sezoane" [Tache Macri, the first Romanian nominated for the Ballon d'Or, has died! He is a legend for Rapid, captaining the team for 14 seasons] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.