Claudiu Niculescu

--- CONTENT ---
Claudiu Iulian Niculescu (born 23 June 1976) is a Romanian football coach and former striker. He is currently in charge of Liga II club 1599 Șelimbăr.

Club career

Claudiu Niculescu was born in Slatina and started playing football at the youth club CSȘ Slatina, alongside Ionel Dănciulescu, Ionuț Luțu and Augustin Chiriță, being coached by Ion Pârvulescu. He started his senior career playing at Jiul IELIF Craiova in Divizia B, after which he played for one season at Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Divizia C, returning for the following one season and a half to play in Divizia B at Electroputere Craiova. Niculescu made his Divizia A debut on 1 March 1998, playing for Universitatea Craiova under Spanish coach José Ramón Alexanko in a 2–1 victory against Petrolul Ploiești in which he scored one goal. He spent three years and a half with The Blue Lions, scoring 41 goals in 93 Divizia A matches, appearing in two games without scoring from the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, also reaching two Cupa României finals. In 2001 he went to play for Dinamo București where in his first season he won the Divizia A title, being the second top-goalscorer of the league with 15 goals, as coaches Cornel Dinu and Marin Ion gave him 28 appearances. In 2002, shortly after scoring a spectacular goal from a free kick against goalkeeper Iker Casillas in a friendly which ended with a 5–2 loss against Real Madrid, Niculescu was transferred to Genoa in Serie B for a fee estimated by the Romanian press between €700.000 and €1 million. He spent only one year with The Griffin, being teammate with compatriots Adrian Mihalcea and Paul Codrea, making only 13 appearances in which he scored three goals as his stay there was affected by injuries, returning to Dinamo who agreed to pay the Genovese team €800.000 to get him back. In the first season, following his return to The Red Dogs, he helped them win The Double, contributing with 16 goals scored in the 28 league matches in which he was used by coach Ioan Andone, also scoring the second goal of the 2–0 victory in front of Oțelul Galați from the Cupa României final and giving his contribution to the elimination of Shakhtar Donetsk by scoring a goal in each leg of the 5–2 victory on aggregate from the UEFA Cup. In the 2004–05 season he scored 21 goals, sharing with Gheorghe Bucur the top-goalscorer of Divizia A title, forming a couple in Dinamo's offence with Ionel Dănciulescu, the Romanian press calling them the "N&D couple", a nickname inspired from the first letters of their family name and the Romanian pop band "N&D". Niculescu started the following season by scoring the final goal of the 3–2 victory against rivals Steaua București which helped the team earn for the first time in its history the Supercupa României, also Andone used him in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when the team eliminated Everton against whom he scored a goal in a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage where he defeated goalkeeper Fabien Barthez by scoring a goal from a 20 meters free kick in a 2–1 away loss in front of Olympique Marseille. In the 2006–07 season under the guidance of coach Mircea Rednic, Niculescu won another championship title with Dinamo and became the top-goalscorer of the league with 18 goals, four of these were scored in a 4–1 against rivals Rapid București and two in a 4–2 victory in a derby against Steaua București. With eight goals scored in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, of which four were in the group stage against Beşiktaş, Club Brugge and a double in the 2–1 victory in front of Bayer Leverkusen for which he received a 10 in the Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper, Niculescu was the second best goal-scorer of the competition, having three less than Espanyol's Walter Pandiani, helping The Red Dogs reach the sixteenths-finals where they were eliminated by Benfica. In January 2008, Niculescu was transferred by Dinamo at MSV Duisburg for 700.000€, where he was teammate with fellow Romanians Mihai Tararache and Iulian Filipescu, playing 15 Bundesliga matches in which he scored 4 goals, but at the end of the season he was transferred in Cyprus at Omonia. In 2009 he returned for a third spell at Dinamo which lasted one year and a half, a period in which he helped the club fulfill "The wonder from Liberec" after winning with 3–0 the away game against Slovan Liberec, as the first leg was lost with the same score, qualifying after the penalty shoot-out to the group stage of the 2009–10 Europa League, afterwards going to play for two seasons at Universitatea Cluj where he ended his career. Claudiu Niculescu was a striker skilled in free kicks, being nicknamed "Lunetistul" (The Sniper) by the Romanian press and he is 11th in an all-time ranking for the goalscorers in Liga I, with 156 goals scored in 326 matches played, also with 43 games and 18 goals scored for Dinamo in European matches, he is the player with the most appearances and top scorer in European competitions for the club.

International career
Claudiu Niculescu played 8 games at international level for Romania, making his debut when coach László Bölöni sent him on the field in order to replace Marius Niculae in the 81st minute of a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory against FR Yugoslavia. He also played two games at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers and one at the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Career statistics

International

Coaching career
His first experience as a coach was in November 2010 for two matches at Universitatea Cluj, where he was at the same time an active player. His second experience as a coach started in March 2012 which was also at Universitatea Cluj and also being in the same time an active player. In 15 games under his command, the club won four games, draw in six and lost five. Niculescu resigned after the first game of the 2012–13 season, a loss 6–2 at Pandurii Târgu Jiu.

On 25 September 2012, Niculescu was installed as the head coach of Liga II team Bihor Oradea with an objective to help the team promote to the first division. In December, Niculescu ended his contract, after only eight games (two wins, three draws and three losses).

In January 2013, Niculescu took over Damila Măciuca, in Liga II.

September 2018, Niculescu was appointed coach of Dinamo București, following the dismissal of Florin Bratu. He signed a contract until 2020.

On 7 January 2021, Niculescu signed a contract with Liga II side Concordia Chiajna.

Managerial statistics
Updated as of 21 October 2023

Personal life
Claudiu Niculescu's brothers Mihai and Dragoș and his cousin Ovidiu were footballers in the Romanian lower leagues. His father Marin was a football coach in the Romanian lower leagues. In 1998 he married Lidia and they had together two kids, Alexandru and Rebecca. They divorced in 2006. In June 2007, he married Diana Munteanu who was a TV host, their wedding was considered the wedding of the year by the Romanian press. Together they had a son named David Cristian. Claudiu and Diana divorced in 2014.

Honours

Player
Universitatea Craiova
Cupa României runner-up: 1997–98, 1999–2000
Dinamo București
Divizia A: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07
Cupa României: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05
Supercupa României: 2005

Individual
Liga 1 Golden Boot: 2004–05, 2006–07

Coach
Voluntari
Cupa României: 2016–17
Supercupa României: 2017

References

External links

1976 births
Living people
Footballers from Slatina, Romania
Romanian men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
FC Drobeta-Turnu Severin players
FC U Craiova 1948 players
FC Dinamo București players
MSV Duisburg players
Genoa CFC players
AC Omonia players
FC Universitatea Cluj players
Liga I players
Liga II players
Liga III players
Bundesliga players
Serie B players
Cypriot First Division players
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Romania men's international footballers
Romanian football managers
Liga I managers
Liga II managers
FC Universitatea Cluj managers
FC Bihor Oradea (1958) managers
CS Sportul Snagov managers
CS Mioveni managers
FC Voluntari managers
FC Dinamo București managers
Al-Tai FC managers
CS Concordia Chiajna managers
FC Politehnica Iași (2010) managers
CSC 1599 Șelimbăr managers
Saudi First Division League managers
Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia