Ilie Datcu

Ilie Datcu (born 20 July 1937), also known as İlyas Datça is a Romanian former football goalkeeper and coach.^[2]

Ilie Datcu

Personal information
Date of birth	(1937-07-20) 20 July 1937 (age 88)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1950–1954	Constructorul București
1955	Metalul Câmpina
1956–1957	Progresul CPCS București
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1958–1961	Dinamo Obor București
1961–1969	Dinamo București	166	(0)
1969–1975	Fenerbahçe	110	(0)
1975–1976	Giresunspor	20	(0)
Total		296	(0)
International career
1963–1967	Romania	13[a]	(0)
Managerial career
1976	Fenerbahçe
1977–1978	Vefa S.K.
1978	Çaykur Rizespor
1978–1979	Türkiyemspor Berlin
1979	Hertha Zehlendorf
1979–1980	Eskişehirspor (assistant)
1981	Göztepe Izmir
1982–1983	Fatih Karagümrük
1984	İstanbulspor
1984–1985	Göztepe Izmir
1985–1986	Denizlispor
1986–1987	Kartalspor
1987–1988	Diyarbakırspor
1988	Bakırköyspor
1988–1990	Türk Telekomspor
1991	Eskişehirspor
1991–1992	Türk Telekomspor
1992–1993	Gaziosmanpaşaspor
1995–1999	Fenerbahçe (GK coach)
2002–2005	Beşiktaş (GK coach)
2007	Kütahyaspor
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Datcu was born on 20 July 1937 in Bucharest, Romania.^[3][4] He began playing football at the junior squads of Constructorul București in 1950, four years later going to Metalul Câmpina and then went to Progresul CPCS București.^[4][5] He started his senior career in 1958 at Divizia B team Dinamo Obor București.^[4][5] During this three-season spell, the club reached the 1960 Cupa României final, where coach Constantin Teașcă used him the entire match in the 2–0 loss to Progresul București.^[4][5][6]

Datcu went to play for Dinamo București where he made his Divizia A debut on 20 August 1961 in a 4–3 away loss against Dinamo Pitești.^[5] He made a total of 20 league appearances in his first season, helping the team win the title, working with coaches Traian Ionescu, Constantin Teașcă and Nicolae Dumitru.^[5][7] In the following three seasons, Datcu won another three titles.^[5][7] In the first two he was coached by Dumitru and Ionescu who used him 13 games in the first one and 26 in the second.^[5][7] For the last title, Datcu played in 24 matches under the guidance of Angelo Niculescu.^[5][7] During his period spent with The Red Dogs, he also won two Cupa României.^[5][8] In the 1964 final, Ionescu played him for the first 85 minutes, then replaced him with Iuliu Uțu in the 5–3 victory against rivals Steaua București but in 1968, coach Bazil Marian did not use him in the 3–1 win over Rapid București.^[9]

Datcu in action during the 1963–64 European Cup match against Motor Jena in Bucharest.

He also made some performances in European competitions with Dinamo as in the 1963–64 European Cup campaign he kept two clean sheets in the 3–0 aggregate win over East Germany champion, Motor Jena, being eliminated in the next round by Real Madrid.^[5][10] He subsequently appeared in a historical 2–1 win over Inter Milan in the 1965–66 edition who were the winners of the last two editions of the competition.^[5][11]

Datcu lifting the Turkish Cup with Fenerbahçe in 1974

In 1969, aged 31, Datcu went to play in Turkey for Fenerbahçe where in his first season he was coached by Traian Ionescu and was teammate with Ion Nunweiller, all of them previously working together at Dinamo.^{[4][5][8][12][13][14]} They won the 1969–70 Turkish League in which Datcu made 29 appearances, conceding only six goals, and also kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory in the TSYD Cup final against Beşiktaş.^{[4][5][8][12][13][14]} In the following years he won another title in the 1973–74 season, making 21 appearances, also winning another TSYD Cup, a Chancellor Cup in 1973 and a Turkish Cup in 1974.^[4][8][12] Datcu ended his career by spending the 1975–76 season at Giresunspor.^[4][5][8] He has a total of 166 matches played in Divizia A, 130 games in the Turkish League and 22 appearances in European competitions.^[4][5][8]

International career

Datcu (pictured in white) with the Romania Olympic team in Copenhagen, Denmark (1963)

Datcu played six games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 12 May 1963 under coach Silviu Ploeșteanu in a friendly that ended with a 3–2 victory against East Germany.^[4][1][15] He played two matches in the Euro 1968 qualifiers.^[1] He also played for Romania's Olympic team, being chosen by Ploeșteanu to be part of the 1964 Summer Olympics squad in Tokyo where he made four appearances, helping the team finish in fifth place.^[4][3][16]

Managerial career

He started his managerial career at Fenerbahçe in 1976.^[2][17] Datcu mostly coached in Turkey, working at numerous clubs.^[13][18][19] In the 1982–83 Turkish Second League season, he helped Fatih Karagümrük gain promotion to the first league after an absence of 20 years.^[20] He also worked as a goalkeeper coach, first at Fenerbahçe, where he noticed and promoted Rüştü Reçber, then at Beşiktaş, being brought there by his former teammate from Dinamo and the national team, Mircea Lucescu.^[13][18][19]

Personal life

Datcu resides in Bodrum, Turkey.^[17] He also holds Turkish citizenship under the name İlyas Datça.^[4]

Honours

Player

Dinamo Obor București

• Cupa României runner-up: 1959–60^[6]

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65^[5]
• Cupa României: 1963–64, 1967–68^[8]

Fenerbahçe

• Turkish League: 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75^[2]
• Turkish Cup: 1973–74^[2]
• Turkish Super Cup: 1973^[2]
• Prime Minister's Cup: 1973^[2]

Manager

Fatih Karagümrük

• Turkish Second League: 1982–83^[20]

Notes

1. Including 7 appearances for Romania's Olympic team^[1]