# Nicolae Dumitru (footballer)

Nicolae "Nicușor" Dumitru (12 December 1928 – 8 August 2005) was a Romanian striker and manager.
He is the most successful Manager in Romania, winning the Romanian first league on seven occasions, all with Dinamo București. Nicolae 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.

## Club career

Nicolae Dumitru was born on 12 December 1928 in Bucharest, Romania and he started playing football in 1945 at Sparta București in the regional championship and then in Divizia B, after two seasons going to play for Metalul București also in Divizia B, helping the team promote to Divizia A where he made his debut under coach Augustin Botescu on 22 August 1948 in a 6–1 loss in front of CFR Timișoara.
He was transferred to Dinamo București in 1949 where he spent 10 seasons, his first performance with the club being the reaching of the 1954 Cupa României final where coach Angelo Niculescu used him all the minutes in the eventual 2–0 loss in front of Metalul Reșița. In the following season 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. 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 go to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, against whom he scored a goal. 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 over CSM Baia Mare. On 23 August 1959, Dumitru played his last Divizia A match for Dinamo in a 0–0 with Minerul Lupeni, having a total of 191 matches in which he scored 56 goals in the competition.

## International career

Nicolae Dumitru played eight games at international level for Romania. He made his debut at the 1954 World Cup qualifiers under coach Gheorghe Popescu I, playing in three games, the first one was a 2–0 loss in front of Czechoslovakia, the second was a 3–1 victory against Bulgaria and the third was a 1–0 loss with Czechoslovakia. His following five games were friendlies, his last appearance was in a 1–1 with Bulgaria.

## Managerial career

   "Mr. Nae is part of the golden triumvirate of Dinamo coaches, along with Angelo Niculescu and Traian Ionescu."
Nicolae 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 was the defending European Cup champion 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 coaching experience outside Romania was when he coached Ghana's national team from 1973 until 1974.

## Death

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

## Honours
### Player

Metalul București
* Divizia B: 1947–48
Dinamo București
* Divizia A: 1955
* Cupa României: 1958–59, runner-up 1954

### Manager

Dinamo București
* Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1970–71, 1974–75, 1982–83, 1983–84
* Cupa României: 1963–64, 1983–84