Mihai Mircea Neșu (born 19 February 1983) is a Romanian 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 lea ...

who played as

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, and a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. A

, Neșu played as a senior for Steaua București and

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

, as well as being

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

eight times for the Romania national team. His footballing career ended at age 28, when he suffered a severe neck injury that left him paralysed. After his accident, Neșu started a personal foundation dedicated to children with

motor disorder Motor disorders are disorders of the nervous system that cause abnormal and involuntary movements. They can result from damage to the motor system. Motor disorders are defined in the fifth edition of the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men ...

s, at the same time receiving treatment for his paralysis from which he did not make a full recovery.

Club career

Steaua București

Neșu, who was nicknamed ''Bișonul'' (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

for "the

Bichon A bichon is a distinct type of toy dog; it is typically kept as a companion dog. Believed to be descended from the Barbet, it is believed the bichon-type dates to at least the 11th century; it was relatively common in 14th-century France, wh ...

"), was born in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

and started to play football with the junior squads of Bihor Oradea. He was transferred to Steaua București in 2001 for $6,000 and 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 21 April 2002, when head coach

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

used him in a 1–1 draw with Petrolul Ploiești. During his time in the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, Neșu aided the club in winning the national title in the 2004–05 and the 2005–06 seasons. He also amassed 33 games in European competitions, of which twelve in the latter campaign as they reached the semi-finals of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

FC Utrecht and career-ending injury

On 27 August 2008, Neșu was sold to

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.2 to replace

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

-bound Erik Pieters. He played 86

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

matches and scored two goals during his stint, and in 2008 was named the best left-back of the competition. On 10 May 2011, Neșu got injured during a training session by colliding with teammate

Alje Schut Alje Schut (born 18 February 1981) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender for FC Utrecht, Mamelodi Sundowns and Kozakken Boys. Career Born in Utrecht, Schut began his career with his hometown club FC Utrecht, makin ...

; he broke his cervical vertebrae, which left him paralysed in a wheel chair ever since. His FC Utrecht contract expired in July 2012, formally ending his footballing career. In 2020, he was selected by FC Utrecht fans as the best left-back the team's history.

International career

Neșu appeared eight times at international level for

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 ...

, with manager Victor Pițurcă handing him his full debut on 12 November 2005, when he replaced

Răzvan Raț Răzvan Dincă Raț (; born 26 May 1981) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He made a name for himself in Romania at Rapid București, with whom he won two national titles, one national cup and one supercup ...

in the 80th minute of a friendly 1–2 loss to

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

. He also played in a 1–0 away victory against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

at the

2010 World Cup qualifiers Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

. His last game for the national team was a friendly which ended in a 0–2 loss to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, on 3 March 2010.

Career statistics

International

Personal life

Neșu's father,

Mircea Mircea is a Romanian language, Romanian masculine given name, a form of the South Slavic name, South Slavic name Mirče (Мирче) that derives from the Slavic word ''mir'', meaning 'peace'. It may refer to: People Princes of Wallachia * M ...

, was a footballer,

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, and doctor. His nephew

Nikos Barboudis Nikos Barboudis (; born 6 March 1989) is a Romanian-born Greek football player who last played as a right back for Ayia Napa. His uncle, Mihai Neşu, was also a football player, who represented Romania at international level. His grandfather, M ...

, was also a football player. Neșu married Maria Laura Gherman in June 2006, but they divorced after six years.

Philanthropy

In the 2012–13 season, Steaua București honoured Neșu by displaying the logo of his namesake foundation on the club's kit in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

matches against Ekranas,

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

and Chelsea. As of January 2022, Neșu manages the construction of a new and larger rehabilitation centre in

for children with

Honours

Player

Steaua București *

: 2004–05, 2005–06 *

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 ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

References

External links

Mihai Neșu Foundation official website

at

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM. It l ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nesu, Mihai 1983 births Living people Footballers from Oradea Romanian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Liga I players FCSB players Eredivisie players FC Utrecht players Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian philanthropists 21st-century Romanian sportsmen