# Nicolae Simatoc

Nicolae Simatoc (also known as Nicolae Șmatoc, Miklós Szegedi or Nicholas Sims; 1 May 1920 – 11 December 1979) was a Romanian football player and manager.

## Club career

Simatoc started playing junior level football at age 14 in 1934 at Ripensia Timișoara. He made his Divizia A debut on 28 May 1939 in a 1–0 home loss to Juventus București. In 1941 he went at Carmen București where he spent one season and a half before moving to Hungary at Nemzeti Bajnokság I team, Nagyváradi AC with whom under the guidance of coach Ferenc Rónay he won the title in the 1943–44 season, contributing with one goal in 19 matches. Afterwards he spent one year at Vasas, then he returned to Romania at Carmen where on 7 December 1947 he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 6–2 home win against Ciocanul București.
In 1948, Simatoc went to play at Inter Milan, making his Serie A debut on 25 January under coach Giuseppe Meazza in a 3–0 loss to Napoli. He scored his first goal in a 4–1 over Fiorentina, scoring two more until the end of the season in a victory against AS Roma and a loss to Triestina. In the following season, he helped Inter to a runner-up position in the league, making his last appearance in the competition in a 0–0 against Lucchese.
Afterwards he went to play for one season at Brescia in Serie B where he scored a personal record of eight goals to help earn a sixth place. In 1950, Simatoc played alongside László Kubala at Hungaria FbC Roma, a team that was formed mainly from Hungarian players that left the Eastern Bloc and they would play exhibition games in Italy and Spain under the guidance of Ferdinand Daučík.
His next spell was at Barcelona where on 10 September 1950 he made his La Liga debut under coach Daučík in a 8–2 win over Real Sociedad, managing to score once and provide three assists. He played regularly for the Catalans in his first season, wearing the number 10 shirt, appearing in a 7–2 win over Real Madrid in the El Clásico, then scoring his second goal in another 7–2 victory against Málaga, also managing to win the Copa del Generalísimo. In his second season with Barça, Simatoc made six league appearances as the club won The Double. Simatoc spent the last season of his career at Real Oviedo where on 22 March 1953 he played his last La Liga game, a 4–0 away loss to Valencia, having a total of 39 matches with two goals netted in the competition.

## International career

Nicolae Simatoc played eight games for Romania, making his debut on 22 September 1940 at age 20 under coach Liviu Iuga in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away victory against Yugoslavia. His last three games for the national team were at the 1946 Balkan Cup, consisting of a draw against Bulgaria, a victory over Yugoslavia and a loss to Albania.

## Managerial career

After retiring as a player he became a coach, managing Spanish side Lleida between 1959 and 1960 in the Spanish third league, promoting Eladio to the team. Then he worked at Sabadell between 1960 and 1961 in the second league. In 1961 he worked as a technical director for Espanyol, afterwards in 1962, Simatoc went in Cyprus at AEL Limassol for one year.
In 1963, he moved to Australia, coaching Budapest Sydney for five years, then at Polonia Western Eagles for three years.

## Personal life

Simatoc was born to Romanian parents on 1 May 1920 in Grimăncăuți, then part of Romania, present-day Moldova. His birth name was Nicolae Șmatoc, while in Hungary he was known as Miklós Szegedi and in Australia as Nicholas Sims. Simatoc was married to a Hungarian woman named Etelka Stolárcsik, with whom he had two sons, Silvio and Santi. Silvio, born in 1950, had followed his father's footsteps and played for the junior squads of Barcelona and in the first league of Australia at Hakoah Sydney City.
Simatoc was multilingual, speaking ten languages: Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian, Russian, Italian, Spanish, English, French, Catalan and German. After retirement he became a professional poker player and owned a casino in Australia.

## Death

He died in Sydney on 11 December 1979 at age 59 after suffering a heart attack while playing a game of poker.

## Legacy

A stadium in Lozova, Moldova is named after him.
A book about him was written in 2013 by Octavian Țîcu and Boris Boguș called Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). Legenda unui fotbalist basarabean de la Ripensia la FC Barcelona (Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). The legend of a Bessarabian footballer from Ripensia to FC Barcelona). A documentary about him called Nicolae Simatoc - variațiuni pe un nume (Nicolae Simatoc - variations on a name) was released in 2017.

## Honours

Nagyváradi
* Hungarian League: 1943–44
Barcelona
* La Liga: 1951–52
* Copa del Rey: 1951, 1952