Nicolae Rainea (19 November 1933 – 1 April 2015), nicknamed ''The Locomotive of the Carpathians'', was a Romanian football referee and

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. Highly regarded throughout the world, he is considered one of the best whistles of his generation and, arguably, the finest Romanian referee of all time.

Career

Nicolae Rainea played football in the lower leagues of Romania for Laminorul Brăila, Metalul Piatra Neamț and Constructorul Bârlad, he retired in 1959 to start his career as a referee, making his debut in

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 ...

in 1965. He refereed at three

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

s (1974, 1978, 1982), the

UEFA Euro 1980 Final The UEFA Euro 1980 Final was the final match of UEFA Euro 1980, the sixth UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on 22 June 1980 and was co ...

, the 1983 European Cup Final, the second leg of the 1978 European Super Cup and the second leg of the 1978 UEFA Cup Final. Rainea officiated the Italy v Argentina game at the 1982 World Cup. He was linesman in a later match between France and Northern Ireland.

Honours and legacy

Rainea was decorated by two presidents of Romania,

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

and

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

. He was made

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most pa ...

where he resided and served four local council terms. Nicolae Rainea Stadium in Galați is named after him.

Personal life and death

In 2011, he celebrated 50 years of marriage. He had a son and a daughter, both living in Sweden. After an untreated mild cold turned into a pulmonary edema, Rainea suffered a cardiac arrest while in hospital and died on 1 April 2015 in

. He was 81 years old.

References

External links

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Profile
Sportspeople from Brăila 1933 births AFC Dacia Unirea Brăila players Romanian football referees FIFA World Cup referees 2015 deaths 1982 FIFA World Cup referees 1978 FIFA World Cup referees 1974 FIFA World Cup referees Romanian sportsperson-politicians Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Councillors in Romania UEFA Euro 1980 referees UEFA European Championship final referees Association footballers not categorized by position Romanian footballers Deaths from pulmonary edema {{Romania-footy-bio-stub