Claudiu Niculescu

Claudiu Niculescu was born in Slatina and started playing football at the youth club CSȘ Slatina, alongside Ionel Dănciulescu, Ionuț Luțu and Augustin Chiriță, being coached by Ion Pârvulescu.[2][3][4] He started his senior career playing at Jiul IELIF Craiova in Divizia B, after which he played for one season for Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Divizia C, returning for the following one season and a half to play in Divizia B at Electroputere Craiova.[1][2] Niculescu made his Divizia A debut on 1 March 1998, playing for Universitatea Craiova under Spanish coach José Ramón Alexanko in a 2–1 victory against Petrolul Ploiești in which he scored one goal.[1][2] He spent three years and a half at Universitatea Craiova, scoring 41 goals in 93 Divizia A matches, appearing in two games without scoring in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup and also reaching two Cupa României finals.[2][5][6] In his first season with Dinamo Bucharest, he won the Divizia A title and was the second top-goalscorer of the league with 15 goals.[2][7] In 2002 Niculescu was transferred to Genoa in Serie B.[2] After a half of season, Niculescu returned to Dinamo Bucharest, winning the championship title in the 2003–04 season, contributing with 16 goals scored in 28 matches.[2] In the 2004–05 season he scored 21 goals, sharing with Gheorghe Bucur the top goalscorer of Divizia A title, forming a couple in Dinamo's offence with Ionel Dănciulescu, the Romanian press calling them the "N&D couple", a nickname inspired from the first letters of their family name and the Romanian pop band "N&D".[2][7][8][9][10] In the 2006–07 season, Niculescu won another championship title with Dinamo and became the top scorer of the league with 18 goals, four of these were scored in a 4–1 against rivals Rapid Bucharest and two in a 4–2 victory in a derby against Steaua Bucharest.[2][7][11][12] He was the second best goal-scorer in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup with eight goals, three less than Espanyol's Walter Pandiani, helping The Red Dogs reach the sixteenths-finals where they were eliminated by Benfica.[13][14] He played 43 matches and scored 18 goals for Dinamo in European matches, being the player with the most matches played and top scorer in European competitions for the club.[15] In January 2008, Niculescu was transferred by Dinamo at MSV Duisburg for 700.000€, where he was teammate with fellow Romanians Mihai Tararache and Iulian Filipescu, playing 15 Bundesliga matches in which he scored 4 goals, but at the end of the season he was transferred in Cyprus at Omonia.[2][16][17][18] In 2009 he returned for a third spell at Dinamo which lasted one year and a half, after which he went to play for two seasons at Universitatea Cluj where he ended his playing career.[2][19][20][21] Niculescu was a striker skilled in free kicks, being nicknamed "Lunetistul" (The Sniper) by the Romanian press.[22] Claudiu Niculescu is 11th in an all-time ranking for the goalscorers in Liga I, with 156 goals scored in 326 matches played.[2][22]

Claudiu Niculescu played 8 games at international level for Romania, making his debut when coach László Bölöni sent him on the field in order to replace Marius Niculae in the 81st minute of a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory against FR Yugoslavia.[23][24] He also played two games at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers and one at the Euro 2008 qualifiers.[23]

His first experience as a coach was in November 2010 for two matches at Universitatea Cluj, where he was at the same time an active player.[25] His second experience as a coach started in March 2012 which was also at Universitatea Cluj and also being in the same time an active player.[26] 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 loss at Pandurii Târgu Jiu: 6–2.[27]

On 25 September 2012, Niculescu was installed as the head coach of Liga II team Bihor Oradea with an objective to help the team promote to the first division.[28] In December, Niculescu ended his contract, after only eight games (two wins, three draws and three losses).[29]

In January 2013, Niculescu took over Damila Măciuca, in Liga II.[30]

September 2018, Niculescu was appointed coach of Dinamo București, following the dismissal of Florin Bratu. He signed a contract until 2020.[31]

On 7 January 2021, Niculescu signed a contract with Liga II side Concordia Chiajna.[32]

Managerial statistics

Updated as of 7 May 2021[33]

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win %
Universitatea Cluj	9 November 2010	18 November 2010	2	0	1	1	1	4	000.00
Universitatea Cluj	5 March 2012	27 July 2012	15	4	6	5	23	23	026.67
FC Bihor	11 September 2012	13 December 2012	11	3	4	4	18	20	027.27
Damila Măciuca	10 January 2013	29 June 2013	12	8	2	2	22	7	066.67
CSM Râmnicu Vâlcea	5 August 2013	27 April 2014	25	10	7	8	29	23	040.00
CS Mioveni	7 July 2014	19 October 2015	45	22	11	12	64	40	048.89
FC Voluntari	3 April 2017	14 April 2018	47	16	13	18	48	57	034.04
FC Dinamo Bucuresti	24 September 2018	13 October 2018	3	1	1	1	3	3	033.33
Al-Tai	15 June 2019	30 October 2019	11	5	1	5	13	11	045.45
CS Mioveni	2 March 2020	27 October 2020	17	5	7	5	11	10	029.41
Concordia Chiajna	8 January 2021	present	11	5	4	2	11	6	045.45
Total			199	79	57	63	243	204	039.70

Claudiu Niculescu's brothers Mihai and Dragoș and his cousin Ovidiu were footballers in the Romanian lower leagues.[3][34] His father Marin was a football coach in the Romanian lower leagues.[3][34] In 1998 he married Lidia and they had together two kids, Alexandru and Rebecca.[35][36] They divorced in 2006.[36][37] In June 2007, he married Diana Munteanu who was a TV host, their wedding was considered the wedding of the year by the Romanian press.[38] Together they had a son named David Cristian.[38][39] Claudiu and Diana divorced in 2014.[40]

• Claudiu Niculescu at National-Football-Teams.com
• Claudiu Niculescu at WorldFootball.net
• Claudiu Niculescu at Soccerway