Ilie Dumitrescu

Ilie Dumitrescu

Personal information
Full name	Ilie Dumitrescu
Date of birth	(1969-01-06) 6 January 1969
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1977–1986	Steaua Bucureşti
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1994	Steaua Bucureşti	165	(71)
1987–1988	→ Olt Scorniceşti (loan)	31	(1)
1994–1995	Tottenham Hotspur	18	(4)
1995	→ Sevilla (loan)	13	(1)
1996	West Ham United	10	(0)
1996–1997	América	14	(1)
1997–1998	Atlante	33	(3)
1998	Steaua Bucureşti	7	(3)
Total		284	(84)
International career
1989–1998	Romania	62	(20)
Managerial career
2000–2001	Oţelul Galaţi
2001	Braşov
2001–2002	Alki Larnaca
2002	Romania U–21
2002–2003	Bacău
2003–2004	Apollon Limassol
2004	AEK Athens
2005	Egaleo
2005	Akratitos
2005–2006	Kallithea
2006	PAOK Thessaloniki
2009	Panthrakikos
2010	Steaua Bucureşti
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ilie Dumitrescu (Romanian pronunciation: [iˈli.e dumiˈtresku]; born 6 January 1969 in Bucharest) is a Romanian former football player and coach, who was last manager of Steaua Bucureşti. A tricky forward, he shot to fame when his frontline partnership with Gheorghe Hagi and Florin Răducioiu led the Romania national team to the 1994 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal, eliminating Argentina en route.

Club career

Dumitrescu joined the Steaua Bucureşti Academy in 1977 at the age of 8 and made his way through the youth system. In April 1987, he made his debut in Divizia A at the age of 18. Steaua, who had won the European Champions Cup the previous year, loaned Dumitrescu to FC Olt to gain more experience.

At FC Olt Dumitrescu was a regular starter, 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, famous Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu noticed him and predicted a fruitful career.

Returning from his loan, Dumitrescu became an important part of the Steaua Bucureşti squad, playing alongside big names such as Marius Lăcătuş and Gheorghe Hagi. After the 1990 World Cup in Italy Dumitrescu remained with Steaua becoming the side's captain. With Steaua, he won the championship in 1993 and played in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup the same year.

Impressed by his performance at the America, the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur were keen to offer him a contract. The North London side paid £2.6 million for Dumitrescu. Just days after Dumitrescu becoming a Tottenham Hotspur player, British tabloid newspaper News of the World wrote an article about Dumitrescu chasing the services of prostitutes. The story later proved to be untrue, but Tottenham were unwilling to play Dumitrescu during the scandal and he was loaned out to Sevilla FC, with the La Liga side given an option to buy him during the loan.

Dumitrescu had a good time in Southern Spain but the club baulked at the transfer fee Tottenham demanded. Dumitrescu returned to England.

After playing in the first half of the 1995–96 Premiership season and failing to impress, Dumitrescu was sold to West Ham United, where Harry Redknapp wanted to make him the player he once was. Dumitrescu played only 10 games before encountering problems with his work permit. His contract with West Ham was broken, leaving him free agent.

In the summer of 1996 he signed a contract with Club América in Mexico and before switching to their rivals Atlante F.C. a year later.

After two years in Mexico, Dumitrescu returned to Steaua Bucureşti in 1998. Halfway through the season he announced his retirement as a professional player aged only 29.

International career

In 1989, Dumitrescu made his debut for Romania, being used as a substitute in a game against Greece. Dumitrescu was part of the Romanian squad at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

At the 1994 World Cup Dumitrescu played all the five games his team played in America. He scored two goals and assisted a third against Argentina in a 3–2 victory which resulted in Romania reaching the quarterfinals, a first for the Romanian national team.

Career as coach

Following a short-lived career as a player agent – he had established a company called "Sport & Business World" in 1998 –, Dumitrescu took on his first position as a manager in 2000 signing with Oţelul Galaţi from Romania's Divizia A. From Galaţi he moved to FC Braşov and then Cypriot side Alki Larnaca in 2001–02. Here he won promotion to the Cypriot First Division and his team started the season very well, beating some of the best sides in Cyprus. However at the end of the season his team finished 11th. He then took the head coach role of the Romanian Under 21 side. But Dumitrescu lasted only 6 weeks in the role.

Subsequently he took control of FCM Bacău in Divizia A. However, after a disappointing season, Dumitrescu resigned in May 2003, leaving FCM Bacău in the relegation zone. Dumitrescu again went to Cyprus, this time as a coach for Apollon Limassol. By playing the Italian defensive system catenaccio, they won 12 of their first 13 matches and Dumitrescu was named the best manager in Cyprus for the year 2004. Dumitrescu soon moved on to his 6th club side, being named manager of the Greek side AEK Athens FC in February 2004.

His roving managerial career continued as he left AEK to join Egaleo, also from the Greek Super League. The next three years found him at three other Greek clubs: Akratitos, Kallithea and PAOK. Dumitrescu was criticised for his style of play by PAOK fans. Having joined the club in February, he resigned in October.

After three years without a club he became manager of Panthrakikos in May 2009, but was sacked after only one game. On 11 August 2010 he returned to Romania to take the manager post at Steaua Bucureşti only to leave the post six weeks later, citing "I can't stay somewhere I'm not wanted".

Personal life

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

External links

• Ilie Dumitrescu at National-Football-Teams.com
• Official FCSB profile