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Doru Nicolae
	Nicolae with Panathinaikos in the early 1980s.
Personal information
Date of birth	22 March 1952 (age 72)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1963–1971	Abatorul București
Senior career*
Years	Team
1971–1973	Petrolul Ploiești
1973	Steaua București
1974	Șoimii TAROM București
1974–1975	Gloria Bistrița
1976	Dinamo București
1976–1980	Argeș Pitești
1980–1982	Panathinaikos
1982	Gloria Bistrița
1983	Bihor Oradea
1984–1986	Gloria Bistrița
1987	Universitatea Craiova
1987–1988	Gloria Bistrița
Total
International career‡
1970–1973	Romania Olympic
1973–1978	Romania B
1978–1988	Romania
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 September 2017; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 September 2017

Doru Nicolae (born 22 March 1952) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward.^[1] He was one of few Romanian footballers who was transferred in a foreign country during the communist regime.^[2] Nicolae played seven games at international level for Romania.^[1]

Club career

Early career

Doru Nicolae, nicknamed Colombo was born on 22 March 1952 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football at Abatorul București under the guidance of coach Jean Bârlăgeanu.^[1]^[3]^[4]^[5] In 1971 he went to play for Petrolul Ploiești where on 19 December, coach Ilie Oană gave him his Divizia A debut in a 2–0 home loss in front of UTA Arad.^[1]^[3]^[6] Two years later he went to play for Steaua București but after playing only one league game he went to Divizia C side, Șoimii TAROM București.^[1]^[2]^[3] In 1974 he went to play for Gloria Bistrița which he helped earn promotion to Divizia B.^[1]^[4] Nicolae went for the second half of the 1975–76 season at Dinamo București but did not play very much as he was competing in the offence with Dudu Georgescu, Florea Dumitrache and Mircea Lucescu.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[6]

Argeș Pitești

In 1976 Nicolae signed with Argeș Pitești where he started playing in European competitions, firstly in the 1978–79 UEFA Cup edition when he helped the team eliminate Panathinaikos in the first round, scoring a goal in the 5–1 aggregate victory.^[1]^[2]^[7] In the following round they met Valencia led by Mario Kempes, earning a 2–1 win in the first leg, however they lost the second one with 5–2, thus the campaign ending.^[1]^[7]^[8] In the same season he formed a successful offensive trio with Nicolae Dobrin and Marin Radu, scoring four goals in the 33 appearances given to him by coach Florin Halagian, including one goal in the final game of the season against Dinamo București which ended with a 4–3 victory that helped Argeș win the title.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[6]^[9] In the following season he scored two goals in the 3–2 victory on aggregate against AEK Athens in the first round of the 1979–80 European Cup, the team being eliminated in the following one by title holders and eventual winners, Nottingham Forest.^[1]^[2]^[10] Also in the same season he scored a personal record of 11 goals in first league football.^[1]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Panathinaikos

In 1980, Nicolae was allowed by the communist regime to transfer outside the country, in Greece at Panathinaikos, a club which wanted him after seeing him play in European competitions.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[6] He spent two seasons with The Greens, scoring nine goals in 57 Alpha Ethniki appearances, earning a runner-up position in the 1981–82 edition and winning the 1981–82 Greek Cup where he was used by coach Ștefan Kovács all the minutes in the 1–0 victory over AEL from the final.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[6]^[11] He also played in a 4–2 home victory over Juventus in the first round of the 1980–81 UEFA Cup, however they did not manage to qualify further as the first leg was lost with 4–0.^[1]^[6]^[12]

Late career

After the spell in Greece, Nicolae returned to Romania at Gloria Bistrița in Divizia B.^[1]^[6]^[4] After half of year he went back to Divizia A football at Bihor Oradea but he returned to Bistrița after one year where for several seasons he would fight unsuccessfully for promotion to the first league.^[1]^[6]^[4] In 1987 he had a short spell at Universitatea Craiova where on 10 May he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 home win over Universitatea Cluj, having a total of 156 matches with 26 goals scored in the competition.^[1]^[3]^[6]^[4] He ended his career in 1988 after another spell at Gloria Bistrița in the second league.^[1]^[2]

International career

Doru Nicolae played seven matches at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Ștefan Kovács on 14 May 1978 in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss in front of Soviet Union.^[13]^[14] He played in a victory with Yugoslavia and a draw with Cyprus at the Euro 1980 qualifiers.^[13] Nicolae made his last appearance for the national team on 6 June 1980 in a friendly with Belgium that ended with a 2–1 loss.^[13]

Honours

Gloria Bistrița

Divizia C: 1974–75^[1]

Argeș Pitești

Divizia A: 1978–79^[1]

Panathinaikos

Greek Cup: 1981–82^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v Doru Nicolae at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Interviu cu Doru Nicolae, primul român care a jucat în campionatul Greciei: "Sunt "câinoși" și muncitori!"" [Interview with Doru Nicolae, the first Romanian to play in the Greek championship: "They are "dogs" and workers!"] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Doru Nicolae, primul fotbalist român transferat peste hotare în regimul comunist" [Doru Nicolae, the first Romanian footballer transferred abroad during the communist regime] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Din atacant a ajuns portar. Vezi o povestea unui mare fotbalist, Doru Nicolae!" [From striker to guardian. See a story of a great footballer, Doru Nicolae!] (in Romanian). Sportulbistritean.ro. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
^ ^a ^b ""Colombo" de Bistrița face 70 de ani! La mulți ani, Doru Niculae!" ["Colombo" from Bistrita is 70 years old! Happy birthday, Doru Niculae!] (in Romanian). Sportulbistritean.ro. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Să ne trăiești - "La mulți ani", Doru Nicolae!" [Live with us - "Happy birthday", Doru Nicolae!] (in Romanian). Rasunetul.ro. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Doru Nicolae. Europa League 1978/1979". WorldFootball. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ "Ziua în care Kempes s-a înclinat în fața lui Dobrin" [The day Kempes bowed to Dobrin] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"Doru Nicolae a împlinit 72 de ani! FC Argeș nu și-a uitat atacantul" [Doru Nicolae turned 72! FC Argeș has not forgotten its striker] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
"Povestea celui mai frumos meci din istoria campionatului României. Cum a învins FC Argeş pe Dinamo la Bucureşti acum 40 de ani" [The story of the most beautiful match in the history of the Romanian championship. How FC Argeş defeated Dinamo in Bucharest 40 years ago] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ "43 de ani de la meciul dintre FC Argeș și Nottingham Forest" [43 years since the match between FC Argeș and Nottingham Forest] (in Romanian). Jurnaluldearges.ro. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"24 octombrie 1979: Argeşul a dat piept cu Nottingham Forest, campioana Europei" [October 24, 1979: Arges played against Nottingham Forest, the European champions] (in Romanian). Romaniansoccer.ro. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"FC Argeș – Nottingham Forest 1-2 (Cupa Campionilor Europeni, 7 noiembrie 1979)" [FC Arges – Nottingham Forest 1-2 (European Champions Cup, November 7, 1979)] (in Romanian). Tikitaka.ro. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"Doru Nicolae. Champions League 1979/1980". WorldFootball. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ Doru Nicolae at National-Football-Teams.com
"Ștefan Kovacs, lordul care mânca parizer" [Stefan Kovacs, the lord who ate Parisian] (in Romanian). Welovesport.ro. 7 April 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"1981/82 Greek Cup" (in Greek). Vissini.gr. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
"Greece - Cup Data (from Quarterfinals on)". Rsssf.org. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ "Doru Nicolae. Europa League 1980/1981". WorldFootball. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Doru Nicolae". European Football. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
^ "Romania 0-1 Soviet Union". European Football. Retrieved 21 August 2024.