Ilie Dumitrescu

Football manager infobox
playername = Ilie Dumitrescu
fullname = Ilie Dumitrescu
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1969|1|6


cityofbirth = Bucharest
countryofbirth = Romania
currentclub = N/A
height = height|m=1.72
weight = 65 kg
position = Manager (former Winger, Striker)
youthyears = 1977–1986
youthclubs = Steaua Bucharest
years = 1986-87 1987-88 1988-94 1994 1995 1995 1996 1996-97 1997-98 1998
clubs = Steaua Bucharest →FC Olt (loan) Steaua Bucharest Tottenham Hotspur →Sevilla FC (loan) Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Club América CF Atlante Steaua Bucharest
caps(goals) = 002 0(0) 031 0(1) 163 (71) 013 0(4) 013 0(1) 005 0(0) 010 0(0) 014 0(1) 033 0(3) 007 0(3)
nationalyears = 1988–1998
nationalteam = Romania
nationalcaps(goals) = 063 (22)
manageryears=2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003 2003 2004 2005 2005 2005-06 2006
managerclubs=Oţelul Galaţi FCM Bacău FC Braşov Romania U21 Apollon Limassol AEK Athens FC Egaleo FC Akratitos Kallithea FC PAOK FC

Ilie Dumitrescu (born 6 January 1969 in Bucharest) is a former Romanian football player, currently manager. A tricky forward, he shot to fame when his frontline partnership with Gheorghe Hagi and Florin Răducioiu led the Romania national football team to the 1994 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal, eliminating Argentina en route.

Club career

Dumitrescu joined the Steaua Academy in 1977 at the age of 8, making his way trough all the youth teams and play for the first squad in April 1987. Even now he is renowned as the best player Steaua Academy ever produced.

After making his debut in Divizia A he is loaned to FC Olt to gain more experience. At Steaua, a team which won the European Cup in the previous year was no room for an 18-year-old. But at FC Olt was a different story, as Ilie did catch the first eleven from the very beginning, playing as left full back. This was not, however, a position he enjoyed, as he was a creative player. During his time with FC Olt Mircea Lucescu the famous Romanian coach noticed him and predicted a fruitful career.

It was just like Lucescu said. Once returned to Steaua, full with talent and ambition, he makes himself way to the first eleven at the age of only 19, becoming an important part of the squad, playing alongside big names such as Marius Lăcătuş and Gheorghe Hagi.

In 1989 he makes debut for Romania, being used as a substitute in a game against Greece. From there the 1990 FIFA World Cup was only one step away, an opportunity he could not miss.

Despite playing two games in Italy, Dumitrescu's services are not requested by a Western European club and he returned to play for his old team and, as captain, leads it to winning the championship in 1993 and playing in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup in the same year.

1994 was a World Cup year and Dumitrescu was there, playing all the five games his team played in America and scoring two very important goals against Argentina, the first after 11 minutes, a stunning free kick from a tight angle curled over the Argentine goal keeper, and then 9 minutes later to regain the lead after Argentina had quickly drew level through a penalty, slick passing from the yellow maestros to leave Dumitresu to slot the ball in the net. Dumitrescu also got the assist for the final goal to play a great ball after a great run to Hagi who scored a vital goal which proved o be the winner. His performance opened the doors to the quarter-finals, the best performance Romania ever gained.

Impressed by his performance in America, the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur were keen to offer him a contract. Unfortunately his career will never be the same.

Just days after becoming a Tottenham Hotspur player, Dumitrescu found his name involved in a scandal. Keen to get sales, the British tabloid News of the World wrote an article about Ilie chasing the services of a prostitute. The story proved to be untrue, but it was enough to send him in loan to Sevilla FC, with an option to buy for the La Liga side.

Dumitrescu had a good time in Southern Spain and the coach of Sevilla wanted him but the club chairman considered that he is too expensive and Ilie had no choice but to return to Tottenham.

After playing for them in the first half of the 1995 - 96 championship, Dumitrescu is sold to West Ham United, where Harry Redknapp wanted to make him the player he once was. But for various reasons he could not as Dumitrescu now had some issues regarding the work permit and when it came it was too late and the contract with the London team was broken, leaving him free agent.

In the summer of 1996 he signed a contract with Club América and then after one year he switched to the rivals of CF Atlante.

After two years in Mexico, Dumitrescu returns to Steaua in 1998 but at the end of the first half of the season announced his retirement as a professional player. He was then only 29.

Career as player agent

In 1998 he established a company called "Sport & Business World", as he was keen to start a new career as a player agent. It was however a very short career without any relevant success.

Career as coach

In 2000 he was requested by Oţelul Galaţi, from Romania's Divizia A, to take over as team coach. It was the beginning of a new career for Dumitrescu. From Galaţi he moved to FCM Bacău and then FC Braşov, before taking the role of head coach of the Romanian Under 21 side. During those years, he was manager of the Cypriot team Alki Larnaca in 2001-02, a promoted team in the Cypriot First Division and his team did very well until the middle of the season and beating the best teams of Cyprus. However at the end of the season his team finished 11th.

Three years after becoming coach, he left Romania in 2003 and went again to Cyprus, this time for Apollon Limassol, a team that became 11th the year before. After a great first round, his team, by playing catenaccio, won the 12 of the first 13 matches and won the unofficial title of the winter champions and he, personally, was awarded as the best trainer of Cyprus for the year 2004. However after that his team began losing the following games. After those defeats, he was asked by AEK Athens FC to become their manager, and since he was ambitious for a better career he left Apollon, to become AEK Athens manager on February 2004.

He remained in Greece, and he coached then Egaleo from the Greek Super League. The next three years found him at Akratitos, Kallithea and PAOK from Thessaloniki.

He has recently been criticized for the style of play adopted by his recent team PAOK, which was reminiscent of Catenaccio, the ultra-defensive style of play that many Italian teams used in the 1960s. After more criticism by the PAOK fans, Dumitrescu announced his resignation from the club on 3 October 2006.

Trivia

Ilie Dumitrescu is an art lover and has his own art gallery in Bucharest.

External links

* [http://www.iliedumitrescu.ro Sport & Business World's website (English)]
* [http://www.romaniansoccer.ro/players/d/dumitrescu_ilie.shtml Ilie Dumitrescu's career @ RomanianSoccer.ro (English)]
* [http://www.labtof.ro/diviziaa/antrenor/Ilie_Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu's career as coach in Divizia A @Labtof.ro (Romanian)]