Nicolae Pescaru (27 March 1943 â 25 May 2019) was a Romanian football play and manager, who worked mostly for Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov.
Pescaru, nicknamed "PrinÃÂul" (The Prince), was born on 27 March 1943 in Breaza, Prahova County, Romania. He began playing junior-level football in 1959 at SomeÃÂul Beclean, and after one year he moved to Progresul FÃÂgÃÂraÃÂ. He started to play senior football at Chimia FÃÂgÃÂraàin Divizia B. Subsequently, Pescaru was transferred to Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov where he made his Divizia A debut on 23 September 1962 under coach Silviu PloeÃÂteanu in a 4âÂÂ2 home victory against ÃÂtiinÃÂa Cluj.
He spent a total of 19 seasons at Steagul, serving as the team's captain for approximately 13âÂÂ14 seasons, and was known for telling his teammates:"You have to defend the honor of being flagbearers!". The highlights of this period were a fourth place in the 1964âÂÂ65 Divizia A season and 11 games played in European competitions (including seven matches in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup). He scored a goal in the 1965âÂÂ66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 4âÂÂ2 victory against Espanyol Barcelona and played in the 3âÂÂ2 win on aggregate against Beà Âiktaà  in the 1974âÂÂ75 UEFA Cup. During these years, the club was relegated twice to Divizia B, but Pescaru stayed with the club, helping it get promoted back to the first division each time.
Pescaru played his last Divizia A match on 23 November 1980 in a 3âÂÂ1 away loss to Progresul BucureÃÂti. In this competition he is Steagul's leader in both appearances and goals, totaling 311 matches with 62 goals. Pescaru went to play one season for Divizia B side, ÃÂoimii IPA Sibiu, retiring in 1982.
Pescaru played three friendly games for Romania, making his debut under coach Angelo Niculescu, when he came as a substitute and replaced Ion Dumitru at half-time in a 2âÂÂ0 loss to France. His following two games were a 2âÂÂ2 draw against Peru and a 2âÂÂ0 loss against the Soviet Union. Pescaru was a member of Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov's "Mexican trio", as together with Stere Adamache and Mihai IvÃÂncescu they were part of Romania's 1970 Mexico World Cup squad. However, coach Niculescu did not play him in any games there. For the participation in that tournament he was decorated by President of Romania Traian BÃÂsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" â (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.
Pescaru worked as a junior coach. He also coached Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov's senior team on two occasions, and accumulated a total of 46 Divizia A matches as coach.
His father, also a footballer who played at Dinamo BraÃÂov, advised Pescaru that if he were to become a footballer, he should play for Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov.
Pescaru died of cardiorespiratory arrest on 25 May 2019 at the age of 76. A book about him was written by Adrian Toth titled Nicolae Pescaru, prinÃÂul braÃÂovean al sportului rege (Nicolae Pescaru, the BraÃÂov prince of the kingly sports), which was released on 27 March 2026, a date that signified 83 years since his birth.
Steagul RoÃÂu BraÃÂov