Nicolae Dumitru (footballer)

Nicolae Dumitru
Personal information
Full name Nicolae Nicușor Dumitru
Date of birth (1928-12-12)12 December 1928
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Date of death 8 August 2005(2005-08-08) (aged 76)
Place of death Bucharest, Romania
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1945–1947 Sparta București[a] 14 (2)
1947–1949 Metalochimic București[b] 23 (11)
1949–1959 Dinamo București 168 (45)
Total 205 (58)
International career
1953–1955 Romania 8 (0)
Managerial career
1959–1963 Dinamo București
1963–1964 Dinamo București
1965–1967 Victoria București
1967–1969 SC Bacău
1969–1972 Dinamo București
1973–1974 Ghana
1974–1976 Dinamo București
1976–1978 SC Bacău
1982–1984 Dinamo București
1984–1986 SC Bacău
1986–1988 Victoria București
1988–1989 Argeș Pitești
1991 Progresul Brăila
1993 Progresul București
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicolae "Nicușor" Dumitru (12 December 1928 – 8 August 2005) was a Romanian striker and manager.

He is the most successful Manager in Romania, winning the Romanian first league on seven occasions, all with Dinamo București.[3] Nicolae Dumitru also won two Romanian Cups, and went on to guide Dinamo to the European Cup semi-finals in the 1983–84 season.[4] He has a total of 558 matches as manager in Divizia A.[5]

Club career

Nicolae Dumitru was born on 12 December 1928 in Bucharest, Romania and he started playing football in 1945 at Sparta București in the regional championship and then in Divizia B, after two seasons going to play for Metalul București also in Divizia B, helping the team promote to Divizia A where he made his debut under coach Augustin Botescu on 22 August 1948 in a 6–1 loss in front of CFR Timișoara.[1][6]

He was transferred to Dinamo București in 1949 where he spent 10 seasons, his first performance with the club being the reaching of the 1954 Cupa României final where coach Angelo Niculescu used him all the minutes in the eventual 2–0 loss in front of Metalul Reșița.[7] In the following season season he helped the club win the first Divizia A title in its history, being used by Niculescu in 21 matches in which he scored two goals.[1][8][9] Dumitru played in the first European match of a Romanian team in the 1956–57 European Cup in the 3–1 victory against Galatasaray, helping The Red Dogs go to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, against whom he scored a goal.[1][10] He reached another Cupa României final in 1959, this time the club won it but coach Iuliu Baratky did not use him in the 4–0 over CSM Baia Mare.[1][11] On 23 August 1959, Dumitru played his last Divizia A match for Dinamo in a 0–0 with Minerul Lupeni, having a total of 191 matches in which he scored 56 goals in the competition.[1]

International career

Nicolae Dumitru played eight games at international level for Romania.[12] He made his debut at the 1954 World Cup qualifiers under coach Gheorghe Popescu I, playing in three games, the first one was a 2–0 loss in front of Czechoslovakia, the second was a 3–1 victory against Bulgaria and the third was a 1–0 loss with Czechoslovakia.[12][13] His following five games were friendlies, his last appearance was in a 1–1 with Bulgaria.[12][14]

Managerial career

"Mr. Nae is part of the golden triumvirate of Dinamo coaches, along with Angelo Niculescu and Traian Ionescu."

–Cornel Dinu, former Dinamo player[4]

Nicolae Dumitru started his managerial career at Dinamo București, having several spells at the club, winning a total of seven Divizia A titles and two Cupa României.[3][4] He also guided Dinamo to the European Cup semi-finals in the 1983–84 season after eliminating Kuusysi Lahti, Hamburg who was the defending European Cup champion and Dinamo Minsk, before being eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Liverpool.[1][4][15]

Dumitru also coached Victoria București, SC Bacău, Argeș Pitești, Progresul Brăila and Progresul București in Divizia A, having a total of 558 matches as manager in the competition, consisting of 250 victories, 120 draws and 188 losses, his only coaching experience outside Romania was when he coached Ghana's national team from 1973 until 1974.[4][5][16][17]

Death

Nicolae Dumitru died on 8 August 2005 in Bucharest at age 76.[1][4][18]

Honours

Player

Metalul București

Dinamo București

Manager

Dinamo București

Notes

  1. ^ The Divizia A 1940–41 was the last season before World War II and the Divizia A 1946–47 was the first one after, so the appearances during this period for Sparta București are not official with the exception of the 1945–46 regional championship, also the statistics for the 1946–47 Divizia B season are unavailable.[1][2]
  2. ^ The statistics for the 1947–48 Divizia B season are unavailable.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nicolae Dumitru at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. ^ "File de poveste – perioada Juventus! Episodul XXIV – "Ultimul șut aduce promovarea"" [Story files - the Juventus period! Episode XXIV - "The Last Shot Gets the Promotion"] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Best of the best! Dan Petrescu, la un titlu de recordul absolut + doi jucători-simbol de la CFR Cluj, lângă Lăcătuș, Lucescu sau Tudorel Stoica" [Best of the best! Dan Petrescu, la un titlu de recordul absolut + doi jucători-simbol de la CFR Cluj, lângă Lăcătuș, Lucescu sau Tudorel Stoica] (in Romanian). gsp.ro. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f ""Scaraoschi" de la Dinamo" ["Scaraoschi" from Dinamo] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Top 60 antrenori" [Top 60 coaches] (in Romanian). RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Metalul Bucuresti vs CFR Timisoara Liga1 1948–1949". Labtof. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Romanian Cup - Season 1954". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Nicolae Dumitru at National-Football-Teams.com
  9. ^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  10. ^ "RETRO GSP. 64 de ani de la primul meci european al unei echipe românești. Dinamo i-a scos pe turci, apoi a urmat măcelul!" [RETRO GSP. 64 years since the first European match of a Romanian team. Dinamo took out the Turks, then the slaughter followed!] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
    "Nicolae Dumitru - Champions League 1956/1957". WorldFootball. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Romanian Cup 1958–59". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
    "Finala Cupei României 1959: Dinamo – CSM Baia Mare 4-0" [The Cupei României Final 1959: Dinamo – CSM Baia Mare 4-0] (in Romanian). Tikitaka.ro. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  12. ^ a b c "Nicolae Dumitru "Nicuşor"". European Football. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Czechoslovakia – Romania 2:0". European Football. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
    "Romania – Bulgaria 3:1". European Football. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
    "Romania – Czechoslovakia 0:1". European Football. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Romania – Bulgaria 1:1". European Football. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Dinamo marchează 30 de ani de la semifinala cu Liverpool din Cupa Campionilor" [Dinamo marks 30 years since the semi-final with Liverpool in the Champions Cup] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Românii care au antrenat echipe naționale din străinătate înainte de 90" [Romanians who coached national teams from abroad before the 1990s] (in Romanian). Theplaymaker.ro. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Nicolae Dumitru managerial statistics". Labtof. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  18. ^ "A murit Dumitru Nicolae Nicusor" [Dumitru Nicolae Nicusor died] (in Romanian). Hotnews.ro. 9 August 2005. Retrieved 25 April 2023.