Nicolae Lupescu

Nicolae Lupescu
Lupescu pictured in the late 1960s
Personal information
Date of birth (1940-12-17)17 December 1940
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Date of death 6 September 2017(2017-09-06) (aged 76)
Place of death Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1954 ICAR București
1958–1960 Flacăra Roșie București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1961 Academia Militară București
1961–1962 Olimpia București
1962–1972 Rapid București 244 (8)
1972–1977 Admira Wacker 134 (9)
Total 378 (17)
International career
1964–1972 Romania[a] 21 (2)
Managerial career
1977–1978 Mecanică Fină București
1978–1980 Rapid București
1981–1982 Șoimii Sibiu
1983–1984 Gloria Buzău
1985–1986 Rapid București
1988 Progresul București
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicolae Lupescu (17 December 1940 – 6 September 2017)[3] was a Romanian football defender and manager.

Club career

"He impressed us from the start. He was quiet, tight-lipped, but a true professional. When two colleagues were arguing, he intervened. He said to the one who screamed the loudest: "Stop talking in big letters!". This saying remained famous among us"

–Viorel Kraus, former Rapid teammate[4]

Early career

Nicolae Lupescu was born on 17 December 1940 in Bucharest, Romania.[5] He started to play football at junior level in 1954 at ICAR București, afterwards playing for Flacăra Roșie București, starting his senior career by playing two seasons in Divizia B, the first one at Academia Militară București and the second at Olimpia București.[5][4]

Rapid București

Lupescu was eventually brought to Rapid București by coach Nicolae Roșculeț where he debuted in Divizia A on 16 September 1962 in a 4–2 victory against Farul Constanța.[5] He remained with Rapid for ten seasons, winning the title in the 1966–67 season, being used by coach Valentin Stănescu in 26 matches in which he scored one goal.[5][6][7] In the following season he played four games in the 1967–68 European Cup, helping The Railwaymen eliminate Trakia Plovdiv and advance to the following round where they were eliminated by Juventus.[5][8] Lupescu also won two Balkans Cup and the 1971–72 Cupa României, being used all the minutes by coach Bazil Marian in the 2–0 win over Jiul Petroșani from the final.[5][6][9] He played all the six games in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup campaign, as the team reached the eight-finals, eliminating Napoli and Legia Warsaw, being eliminated by the team who would eventually win the competition, Tottenham.[5][6][10][11] For the way he played in 1970, Lupescu was placed fifth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, in the following year being third.[12]

Admira Wacker

During Romania's communist era, transfers of Romanian footballers outside the country were rarely allowed, but Lupescu convinced Ștefan Andrei who was the Secretary for Foreign Relations of the Central Committee to help him gain the regime's approval of his transfer at Admira Wacker in 1972 for which Rapid received 40.000$.[13] He made his Austrian Bundesliga debut on 15 September 1972 under coach Ernst Ocwirk in a 0–0 against Austria Klagenfurt, the team finishing the season on the fourth place, which would be the best performance of the team in the championship during his five seasons spent there, also helping Admira eliminate Inter Milan in the 1973–74 UEFA Cup.[13][14] Nicolae Lupescu has a total of 244 matches and eight goals scored in Divizia A, 134 games with nine goals scored in the Austrian Bundesliga and 16 appearances without scoring in European competitions.[5][15]

International career

Lupescu earned 20 caps and scored two goals for Romania, all under the guidance of coach Angelo Niculescu, making his debut on 25 June 1967 in a 1–0 home loss in front of Italy at the Euro 1968 qualifiers.[1][16] Angelo Niculescu also used him in all the minutes of the three group matches from the 1970 World Cup final tournament as Romania did not advance to the next stage.[1] He played eight matches and scored two goals at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament.[1] Lupescu was also Romania's captain in a friendly against Netherlands which ended with a 2–0 loss and made his last appearance for the national team on 17 June 1972 in a friendly against Italy which ended 3–3.[1]

For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Lupescu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.[17][18]

Personal life

He was the father of professional football player Ioan Lupescu.[19][20][21] On 6 September 2017, Nicolae Lupescu died at the Fundeni hospital from Bucharest at age 76.[6][7]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lupescu goal.[1]
List of international goals scored by Nicolae Lupescu
# Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 22 September 1971 Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland 13  Finland 2–0 4–0 1972 Euro qualifiers
2 24 November 1971 Stadionul 23 August, București, Romania 15  Wales 1–0 2–0 1972 Euro qualifiers

Honours

Player

Rapid București

Individual

Manager

Gloria Buzău

Notes

  1. ^ Including one appearance for Romania's Olympic team.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Nicolae Lupescu". European Football. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  2. ^ Nicolae Lupescu at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. ^ "S-a stins din viață fostul internațional Nicolae Lupescu" (in Romanian). Romanian Football Federation. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Fotbalul românesc deplânge dispariția lui Nicolae Lupescu: "Tăcut, serios, un fotbalist de clasă"" [Romanian football mourns the death of Nicolae Lupescu: "Quiet, serious, a class footballer"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nicolae Lupescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  6. ^ a b c d e "Doliu în fotbalul românesc: a murit Nicolae Lupescu, fost campion cu Rapid în 1967" [Mourning in Romanian football: Nicolae Lupescu, former champion with Rapid in 1967, died] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  7. ^ a b "S-a mai stins o legendă! A murit gloria Rapidului, Culae Lupescu!" [Another legend has died! The glory of the Rapid, Culae Lupescu, has died!] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Nicolae Lupescu Champions League 1967/1968". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Romanian Cup – Season 1971–1972". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  10. ^ "49 de ani de când Rapid mătura pe jos cu Zoff și cu Altafini. Boc: "Așa ne-am câștigat dreptul să vedem un film aproape porno la Varșovia!"!" [49 years since Rapid swept on foot with Zoff and Altafini. Boc: "This is how we earned the right to see an almost pornographic film in Warsaw!"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Acum o jumătate de veac, Rapid elimina pe Napoli" [Half a century ago, Rapid eliminated Napoli]. Wesport.ro. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Romania - Player of the Year Awards". Rsssf.org. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Nicolae Lupescu: "Îmi pare rău că am jucat la Rapid. Poate azi eram colonel"" [Nicolae Lupescu: "I regret that I played at Rapid. Maybe today I would have been a colonel"] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Admira Wacker vs. Austria KLagenfurt 0 – 0". WorldFootball. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  15. ^ Nicolae Lupescu at WorldFootball.net
  16. ^ "Romania 0-1 Italy". European Football. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  17. ^ "DECRET privind conferirea Ordinului și Medaliei Meritul Sportiv" (PDF). Monitorul Oficial al României Nr. 241. 28 March 2008. p. 3. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Decorarea unor personalități ale fotbalului românesc". Administrația Prezidențială. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  19. ^ "A murit fostul internațional Nicolae Lupescu, tatăl lui Ionuț Lupescu" [The former international Nicolae Lupescu, the father of Ionut Lupescu died] (in Romanian). digisport.ro. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  20. ^ "SPECIAL Situație de gradul I în Liga 1. Ce a realizat Silviu Lung jr. prin câștigarea titlului cu Astra. De la frații Vâlcov, la frații Costea și familia Pițurcă" [SPECIAL First grade situation in Liga 1. What Silviu Lung jr. accomplished by winning the title with Astra. From the brothers Vâlcov to the brothers Costea and the Pițurcă family] (in Romanian). prosport.ro. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Ionuţ Lupescu e fan al Generaţiei Mexico '70, iar tatăl său, Culae, e convins că tinerii din '94 le-au luat faţa: "Ei au fost mai buni decît noi!"" [Ionuţ Lupescu is a fan of the Mexico '70 Generation, and his father, Culae, is convinced that the youth of '94 took their face: "They were better than us!"] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  22. ^ "A murit Culae Lupescu, antrenorul Gloriei la promovarea din 1984" [Culae Lupescu, Gloria's coach at the 1984 promotion, died] (in Romanian). Ziare.com. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2022.