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Ionel Dănciulescu
Romanian footballer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ionel Daniel Dănciulescu (born 6 December 1976) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward, currently head of youth development at Liga III club CS Dinamo București.
He holds the all-time record for the most competitive appearances in Liga I, with 515 games played over the course of twenty years.[1][2][3] He is the second-highest scorer in the history of Liga I with 214 goals, only behind Dudu Georgescu who netted 252.[1][2] He also scored 35 goals in the Cupa României and he is the player with the most appearances, 36 in the Dinamo – Steaua derby in which he scored 13 goals (eight for Steaua and five for Dinamo) which makes him the top-scorer alongside Florea Voinea.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
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Club career
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Early years and Electroputere Craiova
Dănciulescu was born on 6 December 1976 in Slatina, Romania.[1][11][12] He began playing junior-level football in his hometown at CSȘ Slatina, alongside Claudiu Niculescu, Ionuț Luțu and Augustin Chiriță under coach Ion Pârvulescu.[1][11][12]
In 1993, Dănciulescu joined Electroputere Craiova making his Divizia A debut at age 16 on 6 October 1993 in a 2–2 draw against the city rival Universitatea Craiova.[12][13][14][15] Over the course of two seasons with Electroputere, he scored eight goals in 31 league games, his first goal was in a 2–2 draw against Dinamo București, and he also netted a double in a 4–2 loss to Steaua București.[1][12][14][16] During this period he played alongside the likes of Ștefan Nanu, Gabriel Popescu, Sabin Ilie and Claudiu Răducanu.[17]
Dinamo București
In 1995, Electroputere was relegated to the second league, Dănciulescu having offers to remain in the first division, choosing to sign with Dinamo București after being convinced by the club's officials Mircea Stoenescu and Cornel Dinu.[1][13][18][19] He spent two seasons with The Red Dogs, scoring 22 goals in 64 games Divizia A games, including his first hat-trick in the competition in a 3–0 win over AS Bacău.[1][13][14]
Altay Izmir
During the first half of the 1997–98 season, Dănciulescu had a brief spell in the Turkish Super League with Altay.[1][12][13][20] The Turkish club paid a fee around $400,000 to Dinamo for him and Marius Coporan, because coach Marian Bondrea wanted them there, where they were teammates with another Romanian, Dănuţ Moisescu.[1][12][13][20][21] He played seven games for them and scored one goal against Beşiktaş.[1][12][13][20]
Steaua București
Dănciulescu and Coporan returned to Romania from Turkey, after Steaua București paid Altay the same money they paid for their acquisition from Dinamo.[1][13][12][20] Dănciulescu helped the club win the title in his first season spent at the club, being used by coach Mihai Stoichiță in 25 games in which he scored 14 goals, being the team's second top-scorer with three goals behind Cătălin Munteanu.[1][13][12][22] In the following season, he won the 1998–99 Cupa României, being used by coach Emerich Jenei in the first 51 minutes when he replaced him with Ionuț Luțu in the victory at the penalty shoot-out in the final against Rapid București.[1][13][12][23] Dănciulescu helped the club reach the round of 32 in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, playing seven games in the campaign as they got past Levadia Tallinn, LASK Linz against whom he scored a goal, and West Ham United, being eliminated by Slavia Prague.[13][24] He won another league title in the 2000–01 season with The Military Men, contributing with six goals scored in the 26 appearances given to him by coach Victor Pițurcă.[1][13][12][22] He also earned the nickname "Corbul" (The Raven) from his teammate Adrian Matei during this period.[1][25]
In the middle of the 2001–02 season, Dănciulescu had a conflict with coach Pițurcă, having to leave the team.[1][12][26][27][28]
Return to Dinamo București
He signed again with Dinamo București who paid $350,000 to Steaua for his transfer.[1][12][27] At the beginning of this second spell he had probably the hardest time of his career, as the team's fans were cussing him at games because he played for Steaua and scored against Dinamo.[1][12][27] Dănciulescu netted three goals in the 13 appearances given to him by coaches Cornel Dinu and Marin Ion as the team won the title at the end of the 2001–02 season.[1][13][22] During that period, he even played in the second league at Poiana Câmpina, then a satellite team of Dinamo.[13][29] He came back strong during the following season, scoring 16 goals in 26 league games, also helping the club win the Cupa României, being used by coach Ioan Andone for the entire match in the 1–0 victory against Național București in the final.[1][13][11][30] The fans eventually accepted him as he became a top-scorer of the team.[1][11] In the following years, Dănciulescu made a successful partnership in the team's offence with Claudiu Niculescu, the Romanian press calling them the "N&D couple", a nickname inspired by the first letters of their family name and the Romanian pop band "N&D".[1][11][31]
He helped the team win The Double in the 2003–04 season, scoring 21 goals in the 29 league matches coach Andone used him, which made him the top-scorer of the season.[13][22][32] However, Dănciulescu did not play in the 2–0 victory against Oțelul Galați in the Cupa României final as he was suspended after receiving a red card.[13][33] In the same season he contributed to the elimination of Liepājas Metalurgs and Shakhtar Donetsk by scoring two goals against the first and one against the latter in the UEFA Cup.[13][34] The campaign ended when they were eliminated in the second round of the competition by Spartak Moscow against whom he scored a brace in the second leg.[13][35] In the first half of the following season he scored 11 goals in 15 league appearances.[13] He also played in the Champions League qualifying rounds, scoring the goals in both 1–0 victories against Žilina.[13][36][37] In the following round, his pressure led Quinton Fortune to score an own goal in the eventual 5–1 aggregate loss to Manchester United.[13][36][38] These performances and his double scored for the national team in the 5–1 victory in the friendly against Germany, earned Dănciulescu the 2004 Romanian Footballer of the Year award.[1][13][39][40]
In the 2006–07 season, he was the team's second top-scorer after Claudiu Niculescu as he netted the goal 15 times in the 31 appearances given to him by coach Mircea Rednic, including a spectacular scissors kick goal in a 4–2 victory in a derby against Steaua, helping the team win the title.[13][22][41][42] He also appeared in 12 matches in which he scored five goals as the club reached the round of 32 in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup where they lost with 3–1 on aggregate to Benfica.[13][43] In the following season, Dinamo had the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, Dănciulescu managing to score a goal with a header after a pass from Cristian Pulhac in the 1–1 draw from the first leg of the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, but they did not qualify, losing with 3–1 the second leg.[13][36][44] Dănciulescu formed a partnership in Dinamo's offence with Florin Bratu, the Romanian press called them "BD in action", a nickname inspired by the first letters of their family name and the Romanian movie "BD in action".[13][45][46] By the end of the 2007–08 season the team had no chance of winning the title, but rivals Steaua were in first position, having scheduled a match on Dinamo's ground.[45][47] The match ended with a 2–1 victory for Dinamo with Dănciulescu and Bratu scoring the goals.[45][47] That victory helped CFR Cluj advance to the first position and become champions after the final round of the season.[45][47] Dănciulescu was the top-scorer of that season with 21 goals.[13][32]
In August 2009 after scoring a double against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, he became the fourth overall scorer in the history of the Romanian First Division with 187 goals, only behind Dudu Georgescu, Rodion Cămătaru and Marin Radu.[48][49] Dănciulescu helped the club fulfill "The wonder from Liberec" after winning with 3–0 the away game against Slovan Liberec, as the first leg was lost with the same score, qualifying after the penalty shoot-out to the group stage of the 2009–10 Europa League.[13][41][50] However, shortly afterwards he left Dinamo to go play for Hércules Alicante in Segunda División as he was not getting along with coach Dario Bonetti.[13][41][51] His last game was a 1–0 away victory against Steaua after which he was applauded by the 10.000 people who were at the stadium, including Steaua's fans.[41][52]
Shandong Luneng
In 2005, Dinamo loaned him out to Chinese side Shandong Luneng for $500,000, who paid Dănciulescu a salary of $350,000 for 11 months.[13][53][54] He worked with coach Ljubiša Tumbaković, scoring 10 goals in 26 league games which helped the team finish the championship in third place, and also they reached the Chinese FA Cup final where he played the entire match in the 1–0 loss to Dalian Shide.[1][13][53][55][56] During the same period, the team managed to reach the AFC Champions League quarter-finals with him netting a brace in a 4–1 win over BEC Tero in the group stage.[57]
Hércules
In August 2009, Dănciulescu signed a two-year contract with Spanish side Hércules Alicante in the Segunda División which paid Dinamo around €400,000, as he was wanted there by his former coach from The Red Dogs, Esteban Vigo.[12][58][59] Dănciulescu scored 10 goals in 25 league games which helped Hércules earn the second place at the end of the championship, thus promoting to La Liga after a 13 year-break.[13][60] He also scored two goals in the Spanish Cup against SD Huesca and Almería.[13][61]
Third spell at Dinamo București
After only one year with Hércules, his contract was terminated, so Dănciulescu came back to Dinamo in July 2010, where he reunited with coach Ioan Andone.[1][48] On 26 September 2011, he scored his 198th goal in Liga I in a match against Petrolul Ploiești, thus joining Rodion Cămătaru as the competition's second most prolific scorer.[62] About three weeks later, he netted his 200th goal, during a win over Ceahlăul.[63] He helped the team win the 2011–12 Cupa României, with coach Dario Bonetti using him as a starter until the 71st minute when Cătălin Munteanu replaced him in the 1–0 victory in the final against Rapid București.[13][64] On 16 March 2013, after playing in a match against Petrolul, Dănciulescu became the first footballer that reached 500 appearances in the Romanian top-league.[65]
Dănciulescu made his last Liga I appearance on 6 October 2013, exactly 20 years since he made his debut, playing for Dinamo in a 1–1 draw against Ceahlăul, having a record of 515 matches played in the competition with 214 goals scored, which makes him the second best scorer after Dudu Georgescu who netted 252.[1][12][13][27] He also scored 35 goals in the Cupa României and he is the player with the most appearances, 36 in the Dinamo – Steaua derby in which he scored 13 goals (eight for Steaua and five for Dinamo) which makes him the top-scorer alongside Florea Voinea.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
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International career
Dănciulescu played eight games and scored two goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 3 March 1999 under coach Victor Pițurcă in a 2–0 friendly win against Estonia.[66][67] However, he was not in Pițurcă's plans, and was never called up by him again due to a dispute they had when they worked at Steaua.[12][20] During 2004 and 2009, Dănciulescu played seven games, including three at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers, being called up by Anghel Iordănescu and Răzvan Lucescu.[66]
His best match for the national team was a friendly against Germany that ended with a 5–1 victory when he scored a brace against goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.[66][68]
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Managerial career
On 13 November 2014, following Flavius Stoican's departure from Dinamo București, the club's officials appointed Dănciulescu to lead the team in the remaining four games until the end of the first half of the season.[69] After a 6–1 loss to Astra Giurgiu he announced that he was not interested in continuing to coach the team, though he stayed for the final game of the year when the team reached the Cupa Ligii semi-finals after eliminating Universitatea Cluj at the penalty shoot-out.[12][70]
Personal life
Career statistics
Club
- Appearance in the 1994 Intertoto Cup
- Appearances in the UEFA Cup
- Appearances in the 1996 Intertoto Cup
- Four appearances with two goals scored in the UEFA Champions League and one appearance in the UEFA Cup
- Appearance in the Supercupa României
- Three appearances in the UEFA Champions League and two appearances in the UEFA Cup
- Appearances in the UEFA Champions League
- Four appearances with two goals scored in the UEFA Champions League and two appearances with one goal scored in the UEFA Cup
- Two appearances with one goal scored in the UEFA Champions League and two appearances with one goal scored in the UEFA Cup
- Appearances in the UEFA Europa League
- Appearances in the AFC Champions League
- Appearances in the Chinese Super League Cup
International
- Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dănciulescu goal.
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Honours
Steaua București
Dinamo București
- Liga I: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07[13]
- Cupa României: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2011–12[13]
- Supercupa României: 2012[13]
Shandong Luneng
- Chinese FA Cup runner-up: 2005[55]
Individual
- Liga I top-scorer: 2003–04, 2007–08[32]
- Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year: 2004[39]
Records
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References
External links
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