Mihai Mircea Neșu (born 19 February 1983) is a Romanian former

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 ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. A left-back, Neșu played as a senior for Steaua București and

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

, as well as being capped eight times for the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and t ...

. His footballing career ended at age 28, when he suffered a severe neck injury that left him

paralysed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

. After his accident, Neșu started a personal foundation dedicated to children with

motor disorder Motor disorders are disorders of the nervous system that cause abnormal and involuntary movements. They can result from damage to the motor system. Motor disorders are defined in the fifth edition of the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Ment ...

s, at the same time receiving treatment for his paralysis from which he did not make a full recovery.

Club career

Steaua București

Neșu, who was nicknamed ''Bișonul'' (

Romanian 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 ...

for "the Bichon"), was born in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

and started to play football with the junior squads of Bihor Oradea. He was transferred to Steaua București in 2001 for $6,000 and made his

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 ...

debut on 21 April 2002, when head coach Victor Pițurcă used him in a 1–1 draw with Petrolul Ploiești. During his time in the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, Neșu aided the club in winning the national title in the 2004–05 and the 2005–06 seasons. He also amassed 33 games in European competitions, of which twelve in the latter campaign as they reached the semi-finals of the

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 ...

FC Utrecht and career-ending injury

On 27 August 2008, Neșu was sold to

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

1.2 to replace

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

-bound

Erik Pieters Erik Pieters (; born 7 August 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for West Bromwich Albion. Pieters began his career with Utrecht and made his professional debut in August 2006. He impressed enough at the Stadion G ...

. He played 86

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

matches and scored two goals during his stint, and in 2008 was named the best left-back of the competition. On 10 May 2011, Neșu got injured during a training session by colliding with teammate

Alje Schut Alje Schut (born 18 February 1981) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender for FC Utrecht, Mamelodi Sundowns and Kozakken Boys. Career Born in Utrecht, Schut began his career with hometown club FC Utrecht, making h ...

; he broke his cervical vertebrae, which left him

in a wheel chair ever since. His FC Utrecht contract expired in July 2012, formally ending his footballing career. In 2020, he was selected by FC Utrecht fans as the best left-back the team's history.

International career

Neșu appeared eight times at international level 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 ...

, with manager Victor Pițurcă handing him his full debut on 12 November 2005, when he replaced

Răzvan Raț Răzvan Dincă Raț (; born 26 May 1981) is a Romanian former footballer who mainly played as a left-back. He made a name for himself in Romania at Rapid București, with which he won two national titles, one national cup and one supercup betw ...

in the 80th minute of a friendly 1–2 loss to

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He also played in a 1–0 away victory against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

at the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. His last game for the national team was a friendly which ended in a 0–2 loss to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, on 3 March 2010.

Personal life

Neșu's father,

Mircea Mircea is a Romanian masculine given name, a form of the South Slavic name Mirče (Мирче) that derives from the Slavic word ''mir'', meaning 'peace'. It may refer to: People Princes of Wallachia * Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418), a ...

, was a footballer,

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

, and doctor. His nephew

Nikos Barboudis Nikos Barboudis ( el, Νίκος Μπαρμπούδης; born 6 March 1989) is a Romanian-born Greek football player who plays as a right back for Ayia Napa. His uncle, Mihai Neşu, was also a football player, who represented Romania at internat ...

is also a football player. Neșu married Maria Laura Gherman in June 2006, but they divorced after six years.

Philanthropy

In the 2012–13 season, Steaua București honoured Neșu by displaying the logo of his namesake foundation on the club's kit in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

matches against Ekranas, Ajax and Chelsea. As of January 2022, Neșu manages the construction of a new and larger rehabilitation centre in

for children with

Honours

Steaua București *

: 2004–05, 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, ...

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 ...

References

External links

Mihai Neșu Foundation official website

at Voetbal International * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nesu, Mihai 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Oradea Romanian footballers Association football defenders Liga I players FC Steaua București players Eredivisie players FC Utrecht players Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian philanthropists