Nicolae Dumitru (footballer)

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

Nicolae Dumitru

Dumitru (back row, first from the right) as head coach of Victoria București in 1966
Personal information
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

He is the most successful manager in Romania, winning the Romanian first league on seven occasions, all with Dinamo București.^[3] 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

Dumitru was born on 12 December 1928 in Bucharest, Romania and he began playing football in 1945 at Sparta București in the regional championship and then in Divizia B.^[1] After two seasons he went to play for Metalul București, also in Divizia B, helping them get promoted to Divizia A.^[1] He made his debut in the competition under coach Augustin Botescu on 22 August 1948 in a 6–1 loss to CFR Timișoara.^[1][6]

He was transferred to Dinamo București in 1949 where he spent 10 seasons.^[1] His first performance with the club was reaching the 1954 Cupa României final where coach Angelo Niculescu used him the entire match in the eventual 2–0 loss to Metalul Reșița.^[7] In the following 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 advance 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 win over CSM Baia Mare.^[1][11] On 23 August 1959, Dumitru played his last Divizia A match for Dinamo in a 0–0 draw against Minerul Lupeni, having a total of 191 matches with 56 goals in the competition.^[1]

International career

Dumitru played eight games at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Gheorghe Popescu I on 14 June 1953 in a 2–0 away loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers.^[12][13] His following two games were in the same qualifiers, the first one was a 3–1 win over Bulgaria and the second was a 1–0 loss to Czechoslovakia.^[12][14] His following five games were friendlies, his last appearance taking place on 9 October 1955 in a 1–1 draw against Bulgaria.^[12][15]

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]

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 were the defending European Cup champions and Dinamo Minsk, before being eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Liverpool.^[1][4][16]

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.^[4][5][17] His only experience outside Romania was when he coached Ghana's national team from 1973 until 1974.^[4][18]

Death

Dumitru died on 8 August 2005 in Bucharest at the age of 76.^[1][4][19]

Honours

Player

Metalul București

• Divizia B: 1947–48^[1]

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1955^[8]
• Cupa României: 1958–59, runner-up 1954^[7][8]

Manager

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1970–71, 1974–75, 1982–83, 1983–84^[3]
• Cupa României: 1963–64, 1983–84^[1]

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]