Cicerone Manolache

Cicerone "Cici" Manolache (16 May 1936 – 28 January 2024) was a Romanian professional footballer and manager who played as a forward and made four appearances for Romania's national team.

Club career Manolache was born on 16 May 1936 in Păunești, Romania, but when he was three years old, his family moved to Reșița, and there he began playing junior-level football in 1950 at local club FCM. In 1957, he started to play senior football for Reșița in Divizia B where he would spend two seasons. He made constant appearances for four seasons, the highlights of this period were in the 1962–63 season when he scored 15 goals and the team finished in third place. In the 1963–64 season, Știința was relegated back to Divizia B, but Manolache stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back to the first league after one year by scoring nine goals. He ended his career after playing for UM Timișoara in the 1970–71 Divizia B season. Even though the qualification was lost as in the first leg Spain won 6–0, his performance was praised by the Spanish press:"Romania showed as a team of great character, led on the field by the kid Manolache, the "roller" in the center of the attack line".

Managerial career Manolache started coaching in 1971 at CFR Timișoara, leading the club for one year in Divizia B. Afterwards he went to coach abroad in Congo at CARA Brazzaville with whom he won the only trophies of his career, the 1973 Congo Premier League and the 1974 African Cup of Champions Clubs. Following his performances with CARA, he was appointed head coach of Congo's national team. He led them in the 1976 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, eliminating Ivory Coast in the first round but not managing to reach the final tournament as they were defeated in the following round by Nigeria. In 1977 he went back to Divizia B, coaching UM Timișoara and FCM Reșița, having two spells at the latter. In 1982 he had his last Divizia A spell at Politehnica Timișoara when he was brought to replace Marcel Pigulea, totaling 66 games as manager in the competition. In 1983, Manolache returned to Africa, leading Libya's national team. From 1985 until 2016, Manolache worked for various clubs in the Romanian lower leagues, the last one being Agronomia Timișoara.

Career statistics International

International goals

Honours Player Știința Timișoara Divizia B: 1959–60, 1964–65 CFR Timișoara Divizia B: 1969–70 Manager CARA Brazzaville Congo Premier League: 1973 African Cup of Champions Clubs: 1974