Maximilian Nicu (born 25 November 1982) is a former 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 as a midfielder or

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He spent most of his career in Germany, apart from two short spells in Romania and Cyprus. Born in Germany, he represented 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 ...

internationally, making three appearances in 2009.

Club career

Hertha BSC

Nicu made his first appearance with

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

on 31 July 2008 in the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...

first qualifying round second leg against

FC Nistru Otaci FC Nistru Otaci was a Moldovan football club based in Otaci, Moldova. The club was founded on 17 August 1953. It was dissolved in 2017. History During the 1999–2000 season, the club played as FC Nistru-Unisport Otaci due to Nistru being expel ...

. He made his Bundesliga debut on 17 August 2008 in Hertha's opening fixture against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. Nicu came on in the 71st minute as a substitute, replacing Patrick Ebert. After two seasons with Hertha, the club chose not to renew Nicu's contract following their relegation to the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

SC Freiburg

On 1 July 2010, Nicu signed for SC Freiburg.

1860 Munich

On 31 January 2012, Nicu signed for

side

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

Universitatea Cluj

On 14 January 2014 he signed a contract with

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

making it the first Romanian club in his career.

Aris Limassol

In July 2014, Maximilian Nicu signed a one-year contract with Cypriot Second Division club Aris Limassol.

SV Elversberg

In January 2015, after a year abroad, he returned to his native Germany and signed for fourth tier Regionalliga Südwest side

SV Elversberg SpVgg 07 Elversberg is a German association football club, located in Spiesen-Elversberg, Saarland. History The club was founded in 1907 as ''FC Germania Elversberg''. It was dissolved in 1914, but then re-constituted in 1918 as ''Sportverein ...

until 2016.

SpVgg Unterhaching

In August 2015, Nicu joined SpVgg Unterhaching from Elversberg for a second stint at the club. In April 2018, Unterhaching announced Nicu would retire from professional football at the end of the 2017–18 season.

International career

Nicu elected to play for the country of his parents, rather than his country of birth. In 2009, he requested a Romanian passport. Nicu was called up for matches against Serbia and Austria. At first it appeared he would not be able to play, since he had not received his Romanian citizenship yet, but on 17 March it was announced that Nicu had been granted citizenship and would be permitted to play. On 20 March 2009, he pledged his vow to become a Romanian citizen. He made his debut for Romania on 1 April 2009 against Austria.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

SpVgg Unterhaching * Regionalliga Süd: 2002–03 Individual * Regionalliga Süd top scorer: 2005–06 (16 goals)

References

External links

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Maximilian Nicu Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicu, Maximilian 1982 births Living people People from Rosenheim (district) Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria German people of Romanian descent Romanian footballers German footballers Men's association football midfielders Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus SpVgg Unterhaching players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players SV Wehen Wiesbaden players SV Wacker Burghausen players Hertha BSC players SC Freiburg players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Universitatea Cluj players Aris Limassol FC players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Liga I players Cypriot Second Division players 3. Liga players Footballers from Bavaria