Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach at the 1970 World Cup and for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics in which the team keeps the possession of the ball inside its own half and the players are using many short passes from one side to another of the field in order to disrupt the opponents patience when they go out of their field to make pressing, this is also considered an early form of tiki-taka, with such tactics he managed to qualify Romania to a World Cup after more than 30 years and register a win against

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Playing career

Angelo Niculescu was born on 1 October 1921 in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

, Romania and he started playing football in 1937 at age 15 in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

at local club Rovine Grivița. In 1939 he moved to play for neighboring team, FC Craiova with whom he won the 1942–43 championship which was not recognized by the

Romanian Football Federation The Romanian Football Federation (; FRF) is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated with FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation organizes the men's ...

because the teams from

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

were unable to participate as the territory was annexed to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

due to the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

his career was interrupted for a while as he was called by the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

to fight on the Eastern Front. In 1945, Niculescu went to play for Carmen București where he stayed two years, moving afterwards at Ciocanul București who after one year merged with

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

in order to form

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 ...

where he played in the following two years, ending his career at age 29 in which he earned a total of 93

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 ...

appearances with three goals scored.

Managerial career

First and second spell at Dinamo

Niculescu started coaching in 1952 at

's junior center, after one year moving to be the head coach of the senior squad which he helped win the first

title in the clubs history in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, also reaching the

1954 Cupa României final Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

which was lost by Dinamo with 2–0 in front of Metalul Reșița and led the team in the first European match of a Romanian team in the

1956–57 European Cup The 1956–57 European Cup was the second season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won for the second time by Real Madrid, who beat Fiorentina 2–0 in the final at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid ...

in the 3–1 victory against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

, helping '' The Red Dogs'' go to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia. He left Dinamo in 1957 but after two short experiences at Steaua București and Tractorul Brașov, he returned at Dinamo in 1964, helping the club win another

title in the 1964–65 season, also he has a total of 16 matches led in European competitions, all with '' The Red Dogs'' consisting of 10 victories and 6 losses. One of his most important European victories was the historical 2–1 over

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

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from the

1965–66 European Cup The 1965–66 European Cup was the 11th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, winners of the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960, who beat Partizan 2–1 in a close fi ...

edition, the Italians being winners of the previous two seasons of the competition, saying after the game:"I am happy that Herrera's "concrete" was broken by the movement on the field of our players. With fair refereeing we would have won even more clearly". However, they lost the second leg with 2–0.

At the Romanian National Team

He was named coach of Romania's national team in 1967, making his debut in a 1–0 home loss in front of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

at the Euro 1968 qualifiers. He guided the national team through the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers where they earned the first position of a group composed of

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and

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, thus qualifying for the

final tournament 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 ...

after a absence of 32 years where they earned a 2–1 victory in front of

but lost with 1–0 in front of

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

title holders,

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and with 3–2 in front of the eventual winners of the Mexican tournament,

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. He was very criticized because he did not use Nicolae Dobrin in any games at the 1970 World Cup, the reasons Niculescu didn't use him are unclear but the fact that Dobrin did not play is considered one of the most controversial moments in the history of the Romanian football. He also guided the national team at the 1972 Euro qualifiers where they earned the first position of a group composed of

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and

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, thus managing to reach the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

where

was defeated by

, who advanced to the

. His last game led as

's manager took place on 29 October 1972 in a 2–0 home victory against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, having a total of 38 games consisting of 12 victories, 17 draws and 9 losses.

Sportul Studențesc, Poli Timișoara

In 1973, Angelo Niculescu went to coach Sportul Studențesc București until 1977, then he went to coach for two years Politehnica Timișoara where in the 1977–78 season he was close to win the championship as the team was leading with three rounds before the end of the season but after a loss with 4–2 in front of Dinamo, they ended the championship on the 3rd position with three points behind champions, Steaua.

Third spell at Dinamo, SC Bacău, U and Oțelul

From 1979 until 1980 he had a third spell at

, then he coached SC Bacău for one season, moving to Universitatea Cluj for two seasons where in the first one, the team relegated to

and he ended his coaching career in 1984 after one season spent at Oțelul Galați, having a total of 445

matches, consisting of 196 victories, 101 draws and 148 losses.

In Africa

After the

1989 Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revoluti ...

, he went to work as technical director in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Club Africain Club Africain (), known as CA for short, is a Tunisian professional football club based in Tunis. The club was founded in 1920 and its colours are red and white. Their home stadium, Hammadi Agrebi Stadium, has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. ...

, bringing

Ilie Balaci Ilie Balaci (; 13 September 1956 – 21 October 2018) was a Romanian football player and manager. A midfielder, he spent 12 of his 15 years as a professional with Universitatea Craiova, appearing in more than 300 official games with the club a ...

as head coach and in only one season spent at the club they won the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

, Tunisian League and the

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup (), formerly known as Tunisian President Cup (1956–2011), is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition in Football in Tunisia, Tunisian football, organized annually by the Tunisian Football Federati ...

. For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Niculescu was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Innovative tactic

He is known in Romania for inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics in which the team keeps the possession of the ball inside its own half and the players are using many short passes from one side to another of the field in order to disrupt the opponents patience when they go out of their field to make pressing, this is also considered an early form of tiki-taka, with such tactics he managed to qualify Romania to a World Cup after more than 30 years and register a win against

. In 2011

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

named Niculescu the inventor of the tiki-taka style of play and so did

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

in 2014.

Writing

Angelo Niculescu started writing chronicles, comments and match analysis in 1958 as a journalist for the "Sportul popular" newspaper. He also wrote two volumes about football: * Fotbal. Metode si mijloace de antrenament ''(Football. Training methods and means)'' - co-written with Ion V. Ionescu (1972) * Corabia cu 11 pasageri ''(The ship with 11 passengers)'' (1974)

Personal life

He had four brothers and one of them, Jean Niculescu was a footballer at Olympia București. Niculescu died on 20 June 2015 in his apartment from

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 ...

and was buried at the Ghencea Military Cemetery. The president of

, Joseph Blatter said: "Please accept my condolences for the passing of former player and coach Angelo Niculescu. He will be remembered for his contribution to Romanian football, especially as the inventor of the tiki-taka style of play."

Honours

Manager

Dinamo București *

, 1964–65 *

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 ...

runner-up:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Notes

References

External links

* *
Angelo Niculescu manager profile at Labtof.ro
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Niculescu, Angelo 1921 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Craiova Romanian men's footballers Liga I players Liga II players FC Carmen București players Maccabi București players FC Dinamo București players Romanian football managers 1970 FIFA World Cup managers FC Dinamo București managers FCSB managers Romania national football team managers FC Sportul Studențesc București managers FCM Bacău managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers ASC Oțelul Galați managers Men's association football midfielders Romanian military personnel of World War II Romanian sportswriters Romanian journalists Romanian writers Romanian male writers 20th-century Romanian writers 20th-century Romanian male writers Burials at Ghencea Cemetery 20th-century Romanian sportsmen