Nicolao Manuel Dumitru Cardoso (born 12 October 1991) is an Italian 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, rugb ...

who plays for

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club Bnei Sakhnin. Mainly a left winger, he can also play as a forward.

Club career

Early career

Dumitru started his professional career at

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

, in a match during the 2008–09 season in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

. He also played another game in the following season, still at Serie B level.

Napoli

On 31 August 2010, he was signed by

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli has ...

at age 18 and 11 months. He failed to break into the first team during his period at Napoli, making only nine Serie A appearances at the club. Dumitru also played a few games for the reserve.

Return to Empoli

On 20 July 2011, it was announced Dumitru would return to

in Serie B for the 2011–12 season on a one-year loan basis. On 27 August he scored on his debut, in the first match of the league, against

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia currently plays in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football system. History The football in Castellammare di Stabia From St ...

Further Italian loan spells

On 23 July 2012, Dumitru joined Serie B club Ternana on a season-long loan deal until the end of the 2012–13 season. On 31 January 2013 the loan was terminated. Dumitru joined Citadella on a temporary deal the same day. He joined

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are ni ...

on loan for the 2013–14 season.

Veria

On 13 August 2014, Greek club Veria announced the loan signing of Dumitru from Napoli on a one-year deal. He debuted on 24 August 2014 in the season's premiere home match against

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

where he scored his first goal. On 13 September 2014, in a match against Kerkyra, he scored his second goal and was the victim of "derogatory and racist remarks" Horacio Cardozo. The incident was reported by Veria's squad and Cardozo was invited by the Hellenic Football Federation to further give an explanation of the incident that took place. The HFF found Cardozo not guilty due to the lack of strong evidence. Dumitru was twice nominated for the Best Goal award for the goals that he scored on the first matchday as well as on the third, and won the award for his second goal in the championship. He also scored twice on his 2014–15 Greek Cup debut in home 4–1 victory against Ermionida. He got his first assist with Veria against

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

where

Nikos Kaltsas Nikos Kaltsas ( el, Νίκος Καλτσάς, born 3 May 1990) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a winger for Cypriot First Division club Karmiotissa Pano Polemidion. Club career Veria Born in Veria, Kaltsas started his career ...

scored. He scored his third championship goal in a home victory against Levadiakos during Superleague's seventh matchday.

Nottingham Forest

On 30 August 2016, Dumitru joined Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan. On 30 December 2016, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 loss against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

Alcorcón and Gimnàstic

On 1 August 2017, Dumitru signed a two-year deal with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the L ...

club AD Alcorcón. The following 11 January, he moved to fellow league team

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

after cutting ties with the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

side.

Livorno

On 5 February 2019, Dumitru signed with Italian club

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

Gaz Metan Mediaș

On 25 July 2019, Dumitru signed a two-year contract with Romanian club

Gaz Metan Mediaș GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д, , Gorky Automobile Plant) is a Russian automotive manufacturer located in Nizhny Novgorod, formerly known as Gorky (Го� ...

Later years

On 14 Jan 2021, Dumitru signed a contract with Korean club

Suwon Bluewings ''(The Blue, White and Reds)''Tricolor'' , short name = SSB , image = , caption = , founded = , ground = Suwon World Cup Stadium , capacity = 44,031 , owner = Cheil Worldwide(Samsung's subsidiary) , chairman ...

. After spending the first half of 2022 back in Romania with

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

, he successively signed a one-year contract for Bnei Sakhnin in Israel.

International career

Dumitru was eligible to play international football for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

by birth,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

through his mother,

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 ...

through his father and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

through residency, his family having migrated there from Sweden when he was a child. With the Italy U-19 national team in 2010, he took part in the U-19 European Championship. He was also a member of the Italy U-20 national team.

Personal life

Dumitru was born in

Nacka Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mil ...

, Sweden to a Romanian father (who later took Italian citizenship) and an

Afro-Brazilian Afro-Brazilians ( pt, afro-brasileiros; ) are Brazilians who have predominantly African ancestry (see "Black people#Brazil, preto"). Most members of another group of people, Pardo Brazilians, multiracial Brazilians or ''pardos'', may also have a ...

mother, and successively moved to

, Tuscany in 1998 with his parents. He is fluent in Romanian.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumitru, Nicolao 1991 births Living people People from Nacka Municipality Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Swedish footballers Swedish emigrants to Italy Italian people of Romanian descent Italian people of Brazilian descent Brazilian people of Romanian descent Swedish people of Romanian descent Swedish people of Brazilian descent Association football wingers Association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Empoli F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players Ternana Calcio players A.S. Cittadella players Reggina 1914 players Latina Calcio 1932 players Veria F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players AD Alcorcón footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers U.S. Livorno 1915 players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players FC UTA Arad players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Super League Greece players English Football League players Segunda División players Liga I players Israeli Premier League players Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Israel Italian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Sportspeople from Stockholm County