Nicolae Dumitru (footballer)


Nicolae "Nicușor" Dumitru was a Romanian player and manager.
He is the most successful manager in Romania, winning the Romanian first league on seven occasions, all with Dinamo București. Dumitru also won two Romanian Cups, and went on to guide Dinamo to the European Cup semi-finals in the 1983–84 season. He has a total of 558 matches as manager in Divizia A.
As a player, he played as a forward, spending most of his career with Dinamo București.

Club career

Dumitru was born on 12 December 1928 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing football in 1945 at Sparta București in the regional championship and then in Divizia B. After two seasons he went to play for Metalul București, also in Divizia B, helping them get promoted to Divizia A. Subsequently, he made his debut in the competition under coach Augustin Botescu on 22 August 1948 in Metalul's 6–1 loss to CFR Timișoara.
Dumitru was transferred to Dinamo București in 1949, remaining with the club for 10 seasons. 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. In the following season he helped the club win its first Divizia A title, being used by Niculescu in 21 matches in which he scored two goals. Dumitru played in the first European match of a Romanian team in the 1956–57 European Cup in the 3–1 victory against Galatasaray. The Red Dogs advanced to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, against whom he scored a goal. On 9 October 1957, he scored a goal in a 3–2 league derby victory against CCA București. He reached another Cupa României final in 1959, and this time the club won it, but coach Iuliu Baratky did not use him in the 4–0 win over CSM Baia Mare. On 23 August 1959, Dumitru played his last Divizia A match for Dinamo in a 0–0 draw against Minerul Lupeni, totaling 191 matches with 56 goals in the competition.

International career

Dumitru played eight games for Romania, making his debut under coach Gheorghe Popescu on 14 June 1953 in a 2–0 away loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. 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. His following five games were friendlies, his last appearance taking place on 9 October 1955 in a 1–1 draw against Bulgaria.

Managerial career

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. 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.
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 experience outside Romania was when he coached Ghana's national team from 1973 until 1974.

Death

Dumitru died on 8 August 2005 in Bucharest at the age of 76.

Honours

Player

Metalul București
Dinamo București

Manager

Dinamo București