Lică Nunweiller

Lică Nunweiller (12 December 1938 – 8 November 2013) was a Romanian international football midfielder who played for clubs in Romania and Turkey.

Club career

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Lică Nunweiller was born in Austrian father named Johann Nunweiller, who settled in Piatra Neamț after World War II where he met his wife, Rozina, later they moved from Piatra Neamț to Bucharest. He had six brothers, the oldest one of them, Constantin was a water polo player and the other five: Dumitru, Ion Nunweiller, Ion, Victor, Radu and Eduard were footballers, each of them having at least one spell at Dinamo București. They are the reason why the club's nickname is "The Red Dogs" as especially Lică and Ion were known for their aggressiveness on the field and the fact that their faces were turning red from the effort. He started playing junior level football at in 1947 at Unirea Tricolor București, moving afterwards at Venus U.C.B., then at Dinamo București where he worked with coach Petre Steinbach. In 1957 he started to play senior level football at Dinamo Obor București in Divizia B.

He made his Divizia A debut, playing for Dinamo București on 5 June 1960 in a 2–0 victory against Rapid București. Lică Nunweiller helped the club win four consecutive Divizia A titles from 1962 until 1965. In the first he worked with three coaches Traian Ionescu, Constantin Teașcă and Nicolae Dumitru who gave him 18 appearances, in the following two Dumitru and Ionescu used him in 22 matches in which he scored one goal in the first and in 26 with one goal scored in the second and in the last one he played 13 games, netting twice under the guidance of Angelo Niculescu. At the conquest of all these titles he was teammate with his brother Ion, at the last two in the team being his brother Radu as well. He also won the 1963–64 Cupa României with '' The Red Dogs'', coach Ionescu using him and his brothers all the minutes in the 5–3 victory over rivals Steaua București from the final. He played for Dinamo in a total of 11 matches without scoring in the European Cup, including playing all four games of the 1963–64 European Cup campaign as they got past East Germany champion, Motor Jena, being eliminated in the next phase by Real Madrid and also appearing in a historical 2–1 win over Inter Milan in the 1965–66 edition who were the winners of the last two seasons of the competition.

In 1967, he joined Dinamo Bacău for two seasons. Nunweiller next moved to Turkey to join Beşiktaş J.K. in 1969, making him one of the first Romanians to play professional football in Turkey. He made only one appearance in the Süper Lig during the 1969–70 season. Afterwards he returned to Romania to end his career at Dinamo București in 1970 where on 19 July he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–1 draw against Politehnica Iași, gaining a total of 206 matches with five goals scored in the competition.

International career

Lică Nunweiller played four friendly games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 8 October 1961 under coach Gheorghe Popescu I in a 4–0 victory against Turkey. His following games were a 3–2 win over East Germany, a 0–0 against Turkey and a 1–1 against Austria.

Coaching career

Lică Nunweiller was the assistant coach of his brother, Ion Nunweiller, Ion at Dinamo București during the 1976–77 season at the end of which they won the title together.

Death

Lică Nunweiller died on 8 November 2013 at the Floreasca Hospital from Bucharest at age 74. During Dinamo's first home game after his death, the fans displayed a banner dedicated to him that said:"Few of those who wrote the history of our team remain! You taught us what the "D" of life is, Lică Nunweiller, thank you!".

Honours

Player

Dinamo București
*Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65
*Cupa României: 1963–64

Assistant coach

Dinamo București
*Divizia A: 1976–77

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunweiller, Lica
1938 births
2013 deaths
Footballers from Piatra Neamț
Romanian men's footballers
Romanian people of Austrian descent
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Olympic footballers for Romania
Romania men's international footballers
Victoria București players
FC Dinamo București players
FCM Bacău players
Liga I players
Liga II players
Süper Lig players
Beşiktaş J.K. footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
Men's association football midfielders
20th-century Romanian sportsmen