Florian Dumitrescu (born 27 October 1946) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a forward. In the 1970âÂÂ71 European Cup, Dumitrescu scored UTA's decisive goal that eliminated Feyenoord who were European champions at that time.
Dumitrescu was born on 27 October 1946 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1961 at Avântul 9 Mai. From 1964 until 1966 he played at Minerul Anina in Divizia C where he was noticed by UTA Arad's coach Nicolae Dumitrescu who brought him to the club. The coach gave him his Divizia A debut on 12 March 1967 in a 2âÂÂ1 home loss to Rapid BucureÃÂti. Under the guidance of Dumitrescu he helped The Old Lady win two consecutive titles in the 1968âÂÂ69 and 1969âÂÂ70 seasons. In the first he contributed with two goals scored in 15 appearances and in the second he played 29 games, scoring four times. In the 1970âÂÂ71 European Cup, Dumitrescu scored UTA's decisive goal that eliminated defending champions Feyenoord after he received an assist from Mircea Axente and defeated goalkeeper Eddy Treijtel with a header while being in between opponents Rinus Israel and Theo van Duivenbode. In the following round they got eliminated by Red Star Belgrade where after the first leg, the opponents' coach was asked by journalist Ioan Chirilàwhich player from UTA would he bring to his team and Miljan Miljaniànamed Dumitrescu.
In 1971, he went to Dinamo BucureÃÂti for three seasons. The highlights of this period were eight goals scored in the 1971âÂÂ72 season and winning the title in the following season, contributing with five goals in the 26 appearances given to him by coach Ion Nunweiller. Dumitrescu also represented The Red Dogs in European competitions, most notably in the 1971âÂÂ72 European Cup, helping the team get past Spartak Trnava in the first round, but they were eliminated in the following one by his old acquaintance, Feyenoord.
In 1974, he went for one season at Dinamo's rival Steaua BucureÃÂti. Subsequently, Dumitrescu alongside Nicolae Pantea and six other players were sent to Divizia B club Petrolul PloieÃÂti in exchange for Constantin Zamfir. He helped The Yellow Wolves get promoted to the first league in his second season. However, the team was relegated back to the second division after just one year. After playing one more year with Petrolul in Divizia B, Dumitrescu came back to Divizia A football in 1979 when he signed with Olt ScorniceÃÂti, scoring a goal in the 6âÂÂ0 win over Olimpia Satu Mare in the first round of the season. Dumitrescu played his last Divizia A match on 2 November 1980, helping ScorniceÃÂti earn a 4âÂÂ2 home victory against FCM GalaÃÂi, totaling 238 games with 31 goals in the competition and 12 appearances with one goal in the European Cup.
He was taken into consideration by coach Angelo Niculescu to be part of Romania's 1970 World Cup squad, but because he was injured, Dumitrescu missed the tournament. Eventually, Niculescu gave him his debut on 11 October 1970 in a 3âÂÂ0 home victory against Finland in the Euro 1972 qualifiers where he also played in a 0âÂÂ0 draw against Wales. Dumitrescu made a total of four appearances for the national team, his last one occurred on 20 September 1972, a 1âÂÂ1 draw against Finland in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers. He also played once for Romania's Olympic team in a 2âÂÂ1 victory against Albania in the 1972 Summer Olympics qualifiers.
UTA Arad
Dinamo BucureÃÂti
Petrolul PloieÃÂti