Florea Dumitrache

Florea Dumitrache (22 May 1948 – 26 April 2007) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a striker.

Dumitrache spent most of his senior career at Dinamo București, appearing in over 200 league matches and winning three national titles and one national cup. Internationally, he earned 31 caps for the Romania national team and scored 15 goals.

He was considered one of the best forwards in Europe during his time, and was well known for his technique and aerial ability.

Italian club Juventus wanted to sign Dumitrache after his performance at the 1970 World Cup but Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist regime refused.

Club career Dumitrache was born on 22 May 1948 in Bucharest, Romania, having been nicknamed since his childhood "Mopsul" (The Pug), because his nose resembled that of a pug. He started playing junior-level football in 1961 at Rapid București. He made his Divizia A debut on 2 May 1966, playing for Dinamo București under coach Angelo Niculescu in a 1–1 draw against Dinamo Pitești. His first trophy won was the 1967–68 Cupa României, scoring a goal in the 3–1 victory in the final against Rapid in which coach Bazil Marian used him the entire match. In the following three editions of the Cupa României, the team would reach the final in all of them, Dumitrache scoring a goal in each of the first two, but they were all lost to rivals Steaua București. Over the years he would score five more goals in the derby against Steaua in five league victories.

Dumitrache won three league titles with The Red Dogs in 1971, 1973 and 1975. In the first one he contributed with 15 goals scored in the 28 matches he was used by coaches Nicolae Dumitru and Ionescu. During his time at Dinamo, Dumitrache also played 16 games and scored six goals in European competitions. He became the Divizia A top-scorer twice, first in 1969 with 22 goals and the second in 1971, alongside Constantin Moldoveanu and Gheorghe Tătaru with 15 goals. Dumitrache won two times (1968, 1969) the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, and in 1970, he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or along with Dinamo teammate Cornel Dinu. Italian club Juventus wanted to sign the 24-year-old Dumitrache after his performance in the 1970 World Cup, making an estimated $1.5 million offer for him, but Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist regime refused. He netted 20 goals in his first season, being the league's second top-scorer, only behind former teammate, Dinamo's Dudu Georgescu who won the European Golden Shoe. In 1979 he went to Divizia B club, Corvinul Hunedoara where his former Dinamo teammate, Mircea Lucescu was coaching, scoring 15 goals in his first season which helped the club earn promotion to the first league. During the second leg against Sarajevo, an incident occurred where he headbutted referee Gianfranco Menegali in the mouth and as a consequence, UEFA handed him the maximum seven year suspension from all its competitions. Dumitrache made his last Divizia A appearance on 17 September 1983 in Corvinul's 2–0 home loss to his former team, Jiul Petroșani, totaling 357 matches with 170 goals in the competition.

International career

Dumitrache played 31 games and scored 15 goals for Romania, making his debut under coach Angelo Niculescu in a 0–0 friendly draw against the Netherlands. He played five games in which he scored three goals in the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers. He performed well in the final tournament, being used by coach Niculescu in all three group stage games, scoring twice, once in a 2–1 win over Czechoslovakia and once in a 3–2 loss to Brazil. Dumitrache also played in a 3–1 win over Greece in the 1973–76 Balkan Cup, making his last appearance for the national team on 23 July 1974 in a 4–1 friendly victory against Japan in which he scored two goals.

International goals Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dumitrache goal:

Dumitrache died in his native Bucharest on 26 April 2007, aged 59, due to a digestive hemorrhage. After his death, the Victoria Ground was renamed "Stadionul Florea Dumitrache" in his honor.

Honours Dinamo București Divizia A: 1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75 Cupa României: 1967–68 Corvinul Hunedoara Divizia B: 1979–80 Individual Divizia A top scorer: 1968–69, 1970–71 Romanian Footballer of the Year: 1968, 1969 Ballon d'Or 24th place: 1970