-Nicolae Dobrin- 

the portrait of an artist football player

 

                                                 

Nicolae Dobrin, also known as ”the Goose” or ”Prince of  Trivale”, was a famous Romanian football player, born in our city, Pitesti, on August 26, 1947.

The history of Romanian football keeps him as one of the greatest Romanian footballers, a master of dribbling and slitting, a model in the execution of passes and free kicks. He was elected three times the best football player in Romania, in 1966, 1967 and 1971.

Date of birth: August 26, 1947, Pitesti

Post: offensive midfielder

Player career: FC Argeş Piteşti, CS Târgovişte, FC Botoşani

Division A: 409 matches / 111 goals

National team: 47 matches / 6 goals

Palmares: two titles (1972, 1979), was named three times the best football player in Romania (1966, 1967, 1971)

Coaching career: FC Argeş Piteşti, FC Botoşani, "Viitorul" Olympic Center, "Nicolae Dobrin" Football School.

In Division A he trained only in Piteşti, gathering 138 matches on the bench.

He started in the first division at the age of 14 years and 10 months, in a match Știința Cluj - Dinamo Pitești, showing special technical-tactical qualities. He evolved almost his entire career for the FC Argeș Pitești team, with which he won two national champion titles, in 1972 and 1979. Dobrin contributed decisively to winning the title in 1979, scoring in extra time the goal of Argeș's victory in front of the opponents from Dinamo Bucharest . In one year, 1981 - 1982, he played for another team, CS Târgoviște, although he had offers from the universities Universitatea Craiova and Dinamo București. He participated in 409 matches in the first national division, scoring 111 goals. The last match in the first league was FC Argeș - FC Bihor 2-0, on June 14, 1983. In the '85 -'86 season, he was the coach-player at CS Botoșani, at the Moldavian club really retiring from his career the football player.

He made his national team debut at the age of 19, on June 1, 1966, in the football match RFG - Romania, which ended with a score of 1-0. He wore the Romanian national team jersey 48 times, scoring for it six times. The last match for the national team was during the match Romania - GDR, played on April 2, 1980. He qualified, together with the Romanian national football team, for the World Cup in Mexico, 1970, where he did not play a single minute, due to a conflict with coach Angelo Niculescu.

Nicolae Dobrin is also known for missing a transfer to Real Madrid. After playing against the Spaniards in the Champions League, scoring a goal, Santiago Bernabéu, the famous president of Madrid, was so impressed by Dobrin's qualities that he would be willing to offer 2 million dollars to transfer him, a huge amount for those times. Due to the regime in Romania, the Bernabeu had to have discussions with Nicolae Ceausescu himself, but he failed to convince him, because according to official propaganda, Dobrin was a "national good" and could not be "alienated". It was said that it was the biggest regret in Dobrin's life, although he participated in Francisco Gento's retirement match, in the famous "blanco" shirt of Real Madrid, on which occasion the Santiago Bernabeu made one last unsuccessful attempt to keep the Romanian player in Madrid.

He died on October 26, 2007. He was decorated, post mortem, with the National Order "Faithful Service" in the rank of Knight, for his entire career as a footballer.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071028152409/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/26/sports/EU-SPT-SOC-Obit-Dobrin.php

In his honor, the municipal stadium in Pitesti received his name, and on the official jersey of the current football team of Pitesti is his portrait.

His way of playing football has influenced many generations of players, including Gherghe Hagi and Adrian Mutu, the last one, also born in Pitesti.

Albert C/Adriano M/ROMÂNIA/Școala Gimnazială ”Mircea cel Bătrân” Pitești