Daniel George Niculae (; born 6 October 1982) is a former Romanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played mainly as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. Currently he is the president of

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

. He has made 39 appearances for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

since his debut in 2003.

Club career

Rapid București

Daniel "Nico" Niculae started his professional career at

in 2000. Despite a period playing for the B team in 2001, Nico proved he is one of the most gifted players of the club, and helped his club to win the championship in the 2002–03 season – his first as a first-team regular. Niculae was Rapid's leading scorer in the 2004–05 season, with 14 goals – the third highest total in Romania's Liga 1. In the 2005–06

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

campaign, he and

Mugurel Buga Mugurel Mihai Buga (born 16 December 1977), nicknamed "Pele" by the fans, is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward. On 31 December 2009, he was declared a free agent by LPF. On 8 January 2010 he agreed terms with ...

formed one of the most powerful striker pairs of the competition, with Niculae scoring 8 goals, as Rapid reached the Quarter-Finals of the competition. The season also saw Rapid claim the 2006

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, with Niculae scoring the winning goal in the first minute of extra-time, against Național București.

Auxerre

Niculae was transferred to French club

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

in the summer of 2006, for €3.3 million. His first season with the club saw him score 4 goals in the UEFA Cup, but he struggled for goals in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. However, the following season his form improved, as he scored 11 goals to help keep the club in Ligue 1. The 2008–09 season was one to forget for Niculae. He was deeply affected by the loss of his father, and despite threatening to score on several occasions, he failed to find the net in 32 games. Things got back on track in 2009–10 however.

Jean Fernandez Jean Fernandez (born 8 October 1954) is a French professional football manager and former player. He has previously managed Metz and Marseille, where France national team star Franck Ribéry saw him as a mentor. He managed Auxerre for five yea ...

initially wanted to loan out Niculae for the season, but the latest signing

Alexandre Licata Alexandre Licata (born 2 January 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career Licata was born in Grenoble. He started his career at Lille OSC. Licata joined CS Louhans-Cuiseaux in 2004 when they were in the ...

was ruled out for most of the season with a serious ankle injury. Daniel Niculae found a new role in the Auxerre side, as a creator of goals rather than a scorer of them. As of April 2010, he lies third in the table for assists in Ligue 1 with a total of 8. He has a brilliant entente with Polish goalscorer

Ireneusz Jeleń Ireneusz Jeleń (; born 9 April 1981) is a retired Polish footballer who played as a right-winger or striker for the Poland national football team. Club career Jeleń was born in Cieszyn. From 2002 to 2006 he played for Wisła Płock in the ...

and has helped the Burgundian side to reach second in the table and to thus push for the Champions League places.

Monaco

After the expiration of his contract with AJ Auxerre on 15 June 2010, Niculae signed a three-year-deal with

rivals

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

. On 31 August 2011, Niculae signed for French side

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

on a season-long loan. In a game against his former club, AJ Auxerre, on 30 January 2012, Nicuale scored a double giving his team the win. Although, before the game started, Auxerre's supporters booed him, at the end he got a

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...

for his impressive performance.

Kuban Krasnodar

On 6 June 2012, he joined the Russian club Kuban Krasnodar, on a two-year contract. Here he will be coached by Yuri Krasnozhan.

International career

Niculae won his first international cap for

in 2003, but did not become a regular squad member until the 2005–06 season. He was selected for Romania's

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad, and started his country's first two matches. He came on as a substitute for their final group game against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, but could not help Romania to a win, which would have taken the country into the Quarter-Finals. Other than the fact that they share birthplace, he has no connection with namesake and fellow international

Marius Niculae Marius Constantin Niculae (born 16 May 1981), nicknamed (''Arrow'' in Romanian) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a centre forward. Niculae started his career with Dinamo București, progressing through their youth system to the ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Niculae goal.''

Honours

Rapid București *

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

: 2002–03 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

: 2001–02, 2005–06 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Liga IV – Bucharest: 2017–18 Auxerre *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Astra Giurgiu *

: 2015–16 *

runner-up: 2016–17 *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Niculae, Daniel 1982 births Living people Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Footballers from Bucharest Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Rapid București players AJ Auxerre players AS Monaco FC players AS Nancy Lorraine players FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Astra Giurgiu players Liga I players Liga II players Ligue 1 players Russian Premier League players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Russia UEFA Euro 2008 players FC Rapid București presidents Romanian sports executives and administrators