Marius Niculae

Marius Niculae

Personal information
Full name	Marius Constantin Niculae
Date of birth	16 May 1981 (1981-05-16) (age 30)
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.84 m (6 ft  1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre forward
Club information
Current club	Dinamo Bucureşti
Number	9
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–2001	Dinamo Bucureşti	100	(44)
2001–2005	Sporting CP	59	(14)
2005–2006	Standard Liège	26	(4)
2007	Mainz 05	6	(0)
2007–2008	Inverness	35	(8)
2008–	Dinamo Bucureşti	74	(31)
2011	→ Kavala (loan)	12	(4)
National team‡
2000–	Romania	39	(13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 November 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2011

Marius Constantin Niculae (born 16 May 1981 in Bucharest) is a Romanian footballer who plays for FC Dinamo Bucureşti as a centre forward.

A Romanian international since the age of 19, he participated at Euro 2008.

Club career

Dinamo Bucharest

Niculae startd his professional career with Dinamo Bucureşti, making his Liga I debut at age 15 (5–2 home win against Farul Constanţa, on 22 November 1996).

During his last two years with the capital side, still not yet 20, he scored 33 league goals combined, and was an essential offensive unit as the club won the double in the 1999–2000 season (Dinamo also had two other runner-up league positions and won another domestic cup in his spell with the team).

Sporting

In 2001, Niculae joined Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal on a four-year contract, where he failed to settle during his four-season spell, barred by then-in form Mário Jardel, the 2003 signing of his compatriot Liédson and injuries.^[1][2][3]

His best output happened in his debut season, as the Lions won the double, with the player contributing with seven goals in 16 matches in the league. However, on 22 December 2001, in a game against Vitória de Setúbal, after a dangerous challenge by Ico, he suffered a career-threatening knee injury. After a long recovery, Niculae was able to return to pre-season matches, only to break a toe in practice on 10 December 2002, this injury too leading to a long recovery with a series of relapses.^[4] By the time the player was once again fully fit, he struggled to regain his previous form.

As Sporting reached the UEFA Cup final on its home ground, the player contributed with three games and one goal, in the 4–1 home win against Newcastle United in the quarterfinals (4–2 on aggregate).^[5]

Scotland

After unassuming spells with Standard de Liège in Belgium and 1. FSV Mainz 05 in Germany - only six Bundesliga games for the latter - Niculae moved, on a two-year contract, to Scottish Premier League's Inverness Caledonian Thistle, following a brief trial in July 2007. His first application for a work permit was rejected, but Inverness appealed and asked fans to sign a petition to have the player's permit granted. After his appeal, Niculae was granted a work permit and became eligible. He was awarded the Clydesdale Bank Player of the Month award for his performances in the season in December.

Niculae became very popular with the fans, and was booked during a 3–0 home victory over Kilmarnock,^[6] after leaving the pitch to celebrate with the fans in the stand after scoring the final goal. After the resignation of chairman Alan Savage, it became clear Inverness could not afford Niculae's wages,^[7][8] and the club accepted an offer of €500,000 from Dinamo Bucharest, in the summer of 2008.^[9] Niculae left Inverness with a record of 10 goals in 38 games in all competitions.

Return home

Niculae started his second spell at Dinamo with 12 goals in his first season, but could not reproduce that form in the following years. In January 2011, he was loaned to Kavala F.C. in the Greek top division.

International career

A Romanian international since 2 February 2000 - aged 18 years and 9 months - in a friendly 2–0 win with Latvia, Niculae was part of the nation's squad in UEFA Euro 2008, appearing in two group stage matches.

International goals

Scores and results table. Romania's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 February 2000	Pafiako Stadium, Paphos, Cyprus	Latvia	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2	5 December 2000	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Algeria	1–0	2–3	Friendly
3	5 December 2000	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Algeria	2–3	2–3	Friendly
4	8 December 2000	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Algeria	2–0	3–2	Friendly
5	8 December 2000	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba, Algeria	Algeria	3–1	3–2	Friendly
6	2 June 2001	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Hungary	1–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualification
7	2 June 2001	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Hungary	2–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualification
8	15 August 2001	Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	1–0	2–2	Friendly
9	5 September 2001	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	2–0	2–0	2002 World Cup qualification
10	10 November 2001	Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	1–0	1–2	2002 World Cup qualification - Playoffs
11	8 September 2004	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	3–0	5–1	2006 World Cup qualification
12	8 September 2004	Estadi Communal d'Aixovall, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	4–1	5–1	2006 World Cup qualification
13	26 March 2008	Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania	Russia	3–0	3–0	Friendly

Honours

Team

• Dinamo Bucureşti:
  • Romanian League: 1999–00
  • Romanian Cup: 1999–00, 2000–01

• Sporting:
  • Portuguese League: 2001–02
  • Portuguese Cup: 2001–02
  • Portuguese Supercup: 2002
  • UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2004–05

Individual

• Romanian League: Top scorer 2000–01 (20 goals)

References

1. ^ Niculae has knee surgery; UEFA.com, 7 January 2002
2. ^ Training injury rules out Niculae; UEFA.com, 15 September 2004
3. ^ Niculae injury leaves Romania short; UEFA.com, 14 February 2005
4. ^ Marius Niculae com suspeita de nova fractura no pé direito (Marius Niculae suspected to have new right foot fracture); Record, 19 May 2003 (Portuguese)
5. ^ Sporting 4-1 Newcastle (agg: 4-2); BBC Sport, 14 April 2005
6. ^ Goal puts Celtic top of the table; BBC, 19 April 2008
7. ^ Niculae's Inverness wages secure; BBC Sport, 19 April 2008
8. ^ Inverness dispute Niculae payment; BBC Sport, 14 October 2009
9. ^ Niculae delighted by Dinamo return; UEFA.com, 25 July 2008

External links

• RomanianSoccer profile and stats
• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo (Portuguese)
• Bundesliga stats (German)
• Marius Niculae at National-Football-Teams.com
• Marius Niculae career stats at Soccerbase
• Official website (Romanian)

Romanian football portal

Persondata
Name	Niculae, Marius
Alternative names
Short description	Romanian footballer
Date of birth	16 May 1981
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Date of death
Place of death