Nicolae Oaidă


Nicolae Oaidă was a Romanian footballer and manager.

Club career

Oaidă was born on 9 April 1933 in Bod, Brașov, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1946 at local club Steagul Roșu. In 1950 he moved to neighboring club Locomotiva. He made his Divizia A debut on 16 May 1954 playing for Dinamo Brașov under coach Ștefan Dobay in a 3–0 loss to Locomotiva Timișoara. After one season at Dinamo Brașov, Oaidă went to play for two seasons at Dinamo Bacău, managing to help the team earn a promotion to the first league in his first season spent there.
In 1957 he joined Progresul București, where his first performance was reaching of the 1958 Cupa României final, being used the entire match by coaches Ioan Lupaș and Cornel Drăgușin in the 1–0 loss to Știința Timișoara. In the following season he scored a personal record of 14 goals. Under coach Augustin Botescu, Oaidă opened the score in the 2–0 victory against Dinamo Obor București in the 1960 Cupa României final, which helped Progresul win its first trophy.
During his 12 seasons spent at the club, Progresul's best finish was a third place in the 1961–62 season. In the same season, he also played in both legs in the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup as they were eliminated by Leixões after a 2–1 aggregate loss. The Bankers also suffered a relegation in the 1964–65 season, but he stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back to the first league after one season. Oaidă's last Divizia A appearance took place on 15 June 1969, playing in Progresul's 1–0 loss to Farul Constanța, totaling 236 matches with 79 goals in the competition.

International career

Oaidă played six games for Romania, making his debut on 14 September 1958 under coach Augustin Botescu in a 3–2 away friendly loss to East Germany. He played in the two games against Turkey in the Euro 1960 qualifiers. In the first match he opened the score in a 3–0 home victory in Bucharest at the 23 August Stadium. He also appeared once for Romania's Olympic team in the 1960 Summer Olympics qualifiers.

Managerial career

Oaidă began coaching in 1969 at Flacăra Roșie București in Divizia C. In 1971 he became the coach of Libya's national team. One year later he continued to work in Libya at Al-Ahly Benghazi. In 1974 he came back to Romania, working in the lower leagues, first at Mureșul Deva and then for Viitorul Vaslui, Tractorul Brașov, Autobuzul București and Metalul București. Oaidă also had spells in the top-league, Divizia A, first starting from 1976 until 1978 at Progresul București, followed by a spell at Jiul Petroșani in 1979. In the 1980s and 1990s he went to work abroad again in African countries such as Morocco and Egypt. Between 1991 and 1992 he coached in Lebanon at Homenetmen Beirut.

Personal life and death

In 2008, he received the title of honorary president of Progresul București, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, in recognition of his entire activity at the club from Cotroceni.
Oaidă died on 18 January 2025, at the age of 91.

Career statistics

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
12 November 1958Stadionul 23 August, Bucharest, Romania1–03–01960 European Nations' Cup qualifying

Honours

Player

Dinamo Bacău
Progresul București