Place of birth Slatina, Romania Name Claudiu Niculescu Position Forward 1994–1995 IELIF Craiova Weight 82 kg | Years Team Height 1.82 m Playing position Role Coach | |
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Full name Claudiu Iulian Niculescu Date of birth (1976-06-23) 23 June 1976 (age 39) Spouse Diana Munteanu (m. 2007–2014) Number 99 (FC Dinamo Bucuresti / Forward) Children Rebecca Niculescu, Alex Niculescu | ||
GhidSportiv: Declarații Claudiu Niculescu după jocul cu CS Universitatea Craoiva
Claudiu Iulian Niculescu (born 23 June 1976 in Slatina) is a Romanian football coach and former striker. As a footballer, he played in Romania for Universitatea Craiova, Dinamo București and U Cluj, and has also played abroad for Genoa 1893, MSV Duisburg and Omonia. He was a striker and was especially skilled in free-kicks. He is 11th in an all-time ranking for the goalscorers in Liga I, with 157 goals. He is currently the manager of FC Voluntari.
Contents
- GhidSportiv Declaraii Claudiu Niculescu dup jocul cu CS Universitatea Craoiva
- Club career
- Head coach
- Club
- Individual
- As a manager
- References
Club career
At his first season with Dinamo Bucharest, Niculescu won the title in the First League and he became officially one of the best strikers from the internal competition.
The second season was not a brilliant one for Dinamo Bucharest and Niculescu was transferred to Genoa FC 1893 in the Italian Second Division at the middle of the season.
After only half of season, in 2003 Niculescu turned back to Dinamo Bucharest and he won another champion title with his team.
In the 2006–07 season, he became the goal-getter of the league scoring 18 goals, four of these in the match against rivals Rapid Bucharest. He was also the second best goal-scorer the UEFA Cup, scoring eight goals. In total, he scored 18 goals for Dinamo in European matches, and he is the all-time top scorer in European competitions for Dinamo. In Romania, he played 351 games, scoring 173 goals.
On 25 July 2010, he scored on his debut for 'U' Cluj against his former fierce rivals, Steaua Bucharest.
Head coach
His first experience as a coach came at Universitatea Cluj, where he was in the same time active player. He was named head-coach in March 2012, and 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 drastic loss at Pandurii Târgu Jiu: 6–2.
On 25 September 2012, Claudiu Niculescu was installed as the head coach of Liga II team FC 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 loses).
In January 2013, Niculescu took over Damila Măciuca, in Liga II.