Ilie Dumitrescu

Ilie Dumitrescu (born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian former footballer.

As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with Sevilla.

He began and finished his career with Steaua București, had spells in Mexico with América and Atlante and had a brief loan spell with Olt Scorniceşti during the early stages of his career.

Born in Bucharest, Dumitrescu joined the Steaua București Academy in 1977 at the age of 8 and made his way through the youth system.

In April 1987, he made his debut in Liga I at the age of 18.

Steaua, who had won the European Champions Cup the previous year, loaned Dumitrescu to FC Olt to gain more experience.

At FC Olt Dumitrescu was a regular starter, playing as left full-back.

Returning from his loan, Dumitrescu became an important part of the Steaua București squad, playing alongside big names such as Marius Lăcătuş and Gheorghe Hagi.

In 1989, Ilie Dumitrescu made his debut for Romania, being used as a substitute in a game against Greece.

After the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the best of his club teammates got contracts abroad, but Dumitrescu remained with Steaua and became the side's captain.

Dumitrescu was part of the Romanian squad at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

With Steaua, he won the Romanian Cup in 1992, the championship in 1993 and played in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup the same year.

He initially shot to fame when his frontline partnership with Gheorghe Hagi and Florin Răducioiu led the Romania national team to the 1994 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal.

In eliminating Argentina en route, Dumitrescu scored twice in a 3–2 win, despite playing in an unfamiliar striker position with Răducioiu unavailable.

Overall he was capped 62 times, scoring 20 goals and was also present at World Cup 90 and World Cup 98.

Following retirement, Dumitrescu has had an extensive career as a manager in his native country as well as Greece and Cyprus, with a spells at Oţelul Galaţi, Braşov, Alki Larnaca, Romania U–21, FCM Bacău, Apollon Limassol, AEK Athens, Egaleo, Akratitos, Kallithea, PAOK, Panthrakikos, and Steaua București.

Impressed by his performance at the USA World Cup in 1994, the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur were keen to offer him a contract.

The North London side paid £2.6 million for Dumitrescu.

He was later loaned out to Sevilla FC, with the La Liga side given an option to buy him during the loan.

Dumitrescu had a good time in southern Spain but the club baulked at the transfer fee Tottenham demanded.

Dumitrescu returned to England.

At the 1994 World Cup Dumitrescu played all the five games his team played in America.

He was a key player in Romania's surprise 3–2 victory over previous runners-up Argentina, scoring the first two goals and assisting the third.

After playing in the first half of the 1995–96 Premiership season and failing to impress, Dumitrescu was sold to West Ham United, where Harry Redknapp wanted to make him the player he once was.

Dumitrescu played only 10 games before encountering problems with his work permit.

His contract with West Ham was broken, leaving him free agent.

In the summer of 1996 he signed a contract with Club América in Mexico and before switching to their rivals Atlante F.C. a year later.

After two years in Mexico, Dumitrescu returned to Steaua București in 1998.

Halfway through the season he announced his retirement as a professional player aged only 29.

Following a short-lived career as a player agent – he had established a company called "Sport & Business World" in 1998 –, Dumitrescu took on his first position as a manager in 2000 signing with Oţelul Galaţi from Romania's Divizia A.

From Galaţi he moved to FC Brașov and then Cypriot side Alki Larnaca in 2001–02.

Here he won promotion to the Cypriot First Division and his team started the season very well, beating some of the best sides in Cyprus.

Subsequently, he took control of FCM Bacău in Divizia A. However, after a disappointing season, Dumitrescu resigned in May 2003, leaving FCM Bacău in the relegation zone.

Dumitrescu again went to Cyprus, this time as a coach for Apollon Limassol.

His first goal came in the 11th minute and came direct via an eye-catching free kick from a wide position.

Argentina equalized almost instantly from a penalty but Romania regained the lead minutes later through a well-worked passing move that enabled Dumitrescu to score from close range.

The victory enabled Romania to progress to the quarter-finals; a first for the Romanian national team.

However at the end of the season his team finished 11th.

He then took the head coach role of the Romanian Under 21 side.

But Dumitrescu lasted only 6 weeks in the role.