Emil Dumitriu (born 5 November 1942), commonly known as Nichi Dumitru or Dumitriu II, is a Romanian former footballer who played as a forward.[2]

Emil Dumitriu
Personal information
Date of birth (1942-11-05) 5 November 1942 (age 82)
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania[1]
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1957 Locomotiva București
1957–1961 Progresul CPCS București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1961–1962 Jiul Petroșani 8 (2)
1962 Viitorul București 12 (7)
1963–1968 Rapid București 129 (46)
1969–1971 Steagul Roșu Brașov 27 (5)
1971–1972 Dinamo București 22 (4)
1972–1973 Rapid București 37 (4)
1974 Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea 6 (0)
1974–1976 Progresul București
Total 241+ (68+)
International career
1962–1966 Romania U23 13 (4)
1964 Romania Olympic 1 (0)
1965–1968 Romania 6 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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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.[1][3][4] He made his Divizia A debut on 25 March 1962, playing for Jiul Petroșani in a 3–2 victory against UTA Arad.[1][3][4] In the following season he played in the first half at Viitorul București, moving in the second half at Rapid București.[1][3][4] 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.[1][3][4][5] For the way he played in 1966, Dumitriu was placed fourth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.[6] 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.[1][3][4] 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.[1][3][4] 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.[1][3][4][7] 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.[1][3][4]

International career

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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.[8][9] 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".[4][8] He made his last appearance for the national team on 5 June 1968 in a friendly which ended 0–0 against Netherlands.[8] Emil Dumitriu also played 13 games in which he scored four goals for Romania U23 and appeared in a friendly game for Romania's Olympic football team which ended with a 2–1 away victory against Yugoslavia, being selected by coach Silviu Ploeșteanu to be part of the squad that participated at the 1964 Summer Olympics from Tokyo where he did not play in any games as he got injured in a training session by teammate Mircea Petescu.[4][10][11][12][13]

Personal life

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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.[3][4][14][15] In 1987, he settled in Athens, Greece, being married with a Greek woman.[3][4]

Career statistics

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Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dumitriu goal.[8]
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 5–0
3 6–0

Honours

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Rapid București

Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea

Progresul București

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Emil Dumitriu II". RomanianSoccer. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  2. ^ Emil Dumitriu at WorldFootball.net
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "INTERVIU/ Nichi Dumitriu, fosta glorie a Rapidului: "Copos m-a ofertat să vin în Giuleşti pe un salariu de 100 pe euro"" [INTERVIEW / Nichi Dumitriu, the former glory of Rapid: "Copos offered me to come to Giulesti on a salary of 100 euro"] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Nichi Dumitriu, "Fachirul din Giulești", interviu de colecție în ziua în care a împlinit 80 de ani: "Cu echipa de atunci și VAR-ul de azi, Giuleștiul ar fi avut 3-4 campionate în plus!"" [Nichi Dumitriu, "Fachirul din Giulești", collection interview on the day he turned 80: "With the team back then and today's VAR, Giulești would have had 3-4 more championships!"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Romania - Player of the Year Awards". Rsssf.org. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Emil Dumitriu - Champions League 1967/1968". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "Emil Dumitriu profile". European Football. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Turkey 2-1 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Emil Dumitriu profile". 11v11. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Emil Dumitriu. Friendlies 1964". WorldFootball. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Opinie dură despre naționala olimpică de fotbal: "Nu au talent, ăștia n-au jucat pe maidane. Din dude nu poți să faci compot de vișine"" [Harsh opinion about the national Olympic football team: "They have no talent, they didn't play on the fields. You can't make cherry compote out of mulberries"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Cum a fost ultima participare a României la Olimpiadă, în 1964, când "tricolorii" au pierdut dramatic sfertul cu Ungaria" [How was Romania's last participation in the Olympics, in 1964, when "The Tricolors" dramatically lost the quarter to Hungary] (in Romanian). Theplaymaker.ro. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Remember. Hunedoreni la Campionatele Mondiale de fotbal (IV)" [Remember. Hunedoreni at the World Football Championships (IV)] (in Romanian). gazetadedimineata.ro. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Frații Benzar sunt a noua pereche de frați din istoria "roș-albaștrilor". Unii n-au jucat niciodată împreună. Alții au evoluat doar în câte un singur joc!" [The Benzar brothers are the ninth pair of brothers in the history of the "red-blues". Some have never played together. Others have evolved in just one game!] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
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