Nicolae "Nae" Stanciu (born 13 November 1973) 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 lea ...

who played as a defender. He spent most of his career with

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

, which he captained, and had two brief spells with Anzhi Makhachkala and FC Oradea before retiring in 2004.

Career

Stanciu was born on 13 November 1973 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, growing up in the

Giulești Giulești () is a neighbourhood in northwestern Bucharest, located in Sector 6. The Giulești Stadium, Giulești Theatre, Podul Grant are located in Giulești. Also, the Grivița Railway Yards and Lacul Morii are located nearby. History T ...

neighborhood, starting to play football at the junior squads of local club,

Rapid Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

at age 10. He made his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 16 September 1990, playing for Rapid in a 1–0 home loss to Inter Sibiu. His first performance with ''The White-Burgundies'' was winning the 1997–98 Cupa României, being used by coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

all the minutes in the 1–0 win over Universitatea Craiova from the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In the following season he helped the club win the league title, appearing in 28 games in which he scored one goal. Stanciu then helped the team win the 1999 Supercupa României, Lucescu using him the full 90 minutes in the 5–0 victory against

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Steaua București. Stanciu's last trophy won with ''The Railwaymen'' was the 2001–02 Cupa României, playing all the minutes under the guidance of coach

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

in the 2–1 win over

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

from the

. During his years spent with Rapid he also made 29 appearances with one goal scored in European competitions (including four matches in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

). In 2002, Stanciu went to play for Anzhi Makhachkala, making his debut in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

on 25 August under coach Gadzhi Gadzhiyev in a 3–1 away loss to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, gaining a total of nine appearances in the league until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Afterwards he returned to Romania, signing with FC Oradea, making his last Divizia A appearance on 12 May 2004 in a 1–1 against Oțelul Galați, having a total of 345 matches with 13 goals scored in the competition. On 13 May 2020, ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' included him in a first 11 of best Romanian players who never played for Romania's national team. In September 2014 he was appointed president at Rapid București, a position he held until December.

Honours

Rapid București *

: 1998–99 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

: 1997–98, 2001–02 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), 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 Supe ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanciu, Nicolae 1973 births Footballers from Bucharest Living people Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga I players FC Rapid București players Russian Premier League players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players FC Bihor Oradea (1958) players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Romanian sports executives and administrators