Ilie Dumitrescu - Football Career

Football Career

Dumitrescu joined the Steaua Bucureşti Academy in 1977 at the age of 8, making his way through all the youth teams and play for the first squad in April 1987. Even now he is renowned as the best player Steaua Bucureşti Academy ever produced along with Dan Petrescu.

After making his debut in Divizia A he is loaned to FC Olt to gain more experience. At Steaua, a team which won the European Cup in the previous year was no room for an 18-year-old. But at FC Olt was a different story, as Dumitrescu did catch the first eleven from the very beginning, playing as left full back. This was not, however, a position he enjoyed, as he was a creative player. During his time with FC Olt, Mircea Lucescu the famous Romanian coach noticed him and predicted a fruitful career.

It was just like Lucescu said. Once returned to Steaua Bucureşti, full with talent and ambition, he makes himself way to the first eleven at the age of only 19, becoming an important part of the squad, playing alongside big names such as Marius Lăcătuş and Gheorghe Hagi.

In 1989 he makes debut for Romania, being used as a substitute in a game against Greece. From there the 1990 FIFA World Cup was only one step away, an opportunity he could not miss.

Despite playing two games in Italy, Dumitrescu's services are not requested by a Western European club and he returned to play for his old team and, as captain, leads it to winning the championship in 1993 and playing in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup in the same year.

1994 was a World Cup year and Dumitrescu was there, playing all the five games his team played in America and scoring two very important goals against Argentina in their famous 3–2 victory. The first after 11 minutes, a stunning free kick from a tight angle curled over the Argentine goal keeper. Minutes later Argentina had drew level through a penalty converted by Batistuta but slick passing in a counter-attack with Hagi resulted in another fine goal for Dumitrescu just 7 minutes after his first. Dumitrescu was also instrumental in the 3rd goal. He played the ball after a great run to Hagi who scored a vital goal which proved to be the winner. His performance opened the doors to the quarter-finals, the best performance Romania ever gained.

Impressed by his performance in America, the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur were keen to offer him a contract. The North London side paid £2.6 million for Dumitrescu.

Just days after becoming a Tottenham Hotspur player, Dumitrescu found his name involved in a scandal. The British tabloid newspaper News of the World wrote an article about Dumitrescu chasing the services of prostitutes. The story later proved to be untrue, but Tottenham were unwilling to play Dumitrescu during the scandal and he was 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.

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 then after one year he switched to their rivals Atlante F.C..

After two years in Mexico, Dumitrescu returned to Steaua Bucureşti in 1998. Halfway through the season he announced his retirement as a professional player aged only 29.