# Emil Dumitriu

Emil Dumitriu (born 5 November 1942), commonly known as Nichi Dumitriu or Dumitriu II, is a Romanian former footballer who played as a forward.

## Club career

Emil "Nichi" Dumitriu was born on 5 November 1942 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play youth level football in 1957 at Locomotiva București, afterwards moving at Progresul CPCS București. He made his Divizia A debut on 25 March 1962, playing for Jiul Petroșani in a 3–2 victory against UTA Arad. In the following season he played in the first half at Viitorul București, moving in the second half at Rapid București.
During his period spent at Rapid, Dumitriu made a successful couple in the team's offence with Ion Ionescu, winning the first league title from the club's history in the 1966–67 season in which he was used by coach Valentin Stănescu in 26 matches in which he scored 12 goals, also winning two Balkans Cup. For the way he played in 1966, Dumitriu was placed fourth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award. He suffered a lung illness which kept him off the field for one year and a half, being taken by Stănescu at Steagul Roșu Brașov, trying to help him relaunch his career. In 1971, Dumitriu went to play for one season at Dinamo București, afterwards returning for two seasons at Rapid where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 10 March 1974 in a 2–0 away loss in front of Argeș Pitești, having a total of 235 matches in which he scored 68 goals in the competition. He also made four appearances in European competitions during his career (including one appearance in the Inter-cities Fairs Cup), having three in the 1967–68 European Cup when he helped The Railwaymen eliminate Trakia Plovdiv and advance to the following round where they were eliminated by Juventus. Emil Dumitriu ended his career by playing three seasons in Divizia B, the first one at Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea and the other two at Progresul București, helping both teams earn promotion to Divizia A.

## International career

Emil Dumitriu played six games and scored three goals at international level for Romania, making his debut under coach Ilie Oană on 23 October 1965 in a 2–1 away loss against Turkey at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. He played two games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers in which he scored a hat-trick in a 7–0 victory against Cyprus after which the opponents captain Kostas Panayiotou said:"Dumitriu's game is simply confusing. He is an opponent who creates nightmares". He made his last appearance for the national team on 5 June 1968 in a friendly match that ended 0–0 against the Netherlands. Dumitriu also played 13 games for Romania U23, scoring four goals. He appeared in a friendly match for Romania's Olympic team, which ended in a 2–1 away victory against Yugoslavia. He was selected by coach Silviu Ploeșteanu to be part of the squad for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but he did not play in any games due to an injury sustained during a training session caused by his teammate Mircea Petescu.

### International goals

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dumitriu goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 23 April 1967 | Stadionul 23. August, Bucharest, Romania | Cyprus | 3–0 | 7–0 | UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying |
| 2 | 23 April 1967 | Stadionul 23. August, Bucharest, Romania | Cyprus | 5–0 | 7–0 | UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying |
| 3 | 23 April 1967 | Stadionul 23. August, Bucharest, Romania | Cyprus | 6–0 | 7–0 | UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying |

## Personal life

Emil Dumitriu is the older elder of Dumitru Dumitriu (Dumitriu III), who also appeared internationally for Romania and played for Rapid București before becoming a manager, and Constantin Dumitriu (Dumitriu IV) who won the Romanian championship with Steaua București. In 1987, he settled in Athens, Greece, where he married a Greek woman.

## Honours

Rapid București
* Divizia A: 1966–67
* Balkans Cup: 1963–64, 1964–66
Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea
* Divizia B: 1973–74
Progresul București
* Divizia B: 1975–76
Individual
* Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year (fourth place): 1966