Bănel Nicoliță

Bănel Nicoliță (born 7 January 1985) is a Romanian professional footballer, currently under contract with CS Făurei.

Bănel Nicoliță
Nicoliță playing for FCSB in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1985-01-07) 7 January 1985
Place of birth Făurei, Romania
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Winger, Defender, Striker
Youth career
1992–1993 Unirea Făurei
1993–2001 Dacia Unirea Brăila
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2004 Dacia Unirea Brăila 75 (23)
2004–2005 Politehnica Timișoara 15 (3)
2005–2011 Steaua București 188 (23)
2011–2014 Saint-Étienne 25 (3)
2013–2014 → Nantes (loan) 17 (1)
2015–2016 Viitorul Constanța 37 (6)
2016–2017 Făurei 14 (10)
2017 Târgu Mureș 19 (2)
2017–2018 Aris Limassol 12 (1)
2018–2022 Făurei 94 (50)
Total 496 (122)
International career
2003 Romania U19 5 (1)
2004–2005 Romania U21 13 (1)
2005–2014 Romania 37 (1)
Managerial career
2018–2022 Făurei
2022– Academia de Fotbal Bănel Nicoliță
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Dacia Unirea Brăila and Politehnica Timișoara

He made his debut in Romanian Liga II, playing for Dacia Unirea Brăila.[1] After, he joined Politehnica Timișoara, making his Divizia A debut at the age of 19.[2] However, he made only 15 league appearances for the club before moving to Steaua București, at the beginning of 2005, he signed a 5-year contract with Steaua.[3]

Steaua București

Shortly after joining Steaua, Nicoliță won his first Liga I title upon his first season with the team. He is known to be a humble and hard-working player. Although not very technical, his strengths include speed and quickness. Interestingly, on the video game PES 6, his skill set as a player matched all his commonly agreed upon strengths (including being humble), but he was also graced with technical ability and was able to play very effectively as a box to box midfielder with very tidy feet.

In the spring of 2006, he scored twice in the match against Real Betis,[4] his goals opening Steaua's door to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, and then he scored again in the quarterfinals, this time against Rapid București to help his team reach the semifinals.

On 1 November 2006, he scored an own goal against Real Madrid in a Champions League encounter.[5] Unfortunately for him and the Romanian side, this turned out to be decisive in the outcome of the match. He claimed he couldn't sleep for 48 hours after scoring it. After a game with FC Argeș, Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor named him Bănelinho.

On 27 August 2008, he has scored one goal in the match against Galatasaray, in the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League,[6] which sent Steaua București to the group stage for the third consecutive year.

Starting with the 2010–11 season, Bănel was the new captain of Steaua,[7] but with the arrival of new coach Ilie Dumitrescu, he soon gave his armband to Cristian Tănase.

Saint-Étienne

On 30 August 2011, Saint-Étienne announced on their official website that they had reached an agreement with Steaua for Nicoliță's transfer and that the player would fly to France and undergo a medical the following day.[8] Being in his last year of contract with Steaua București the transfer fee was €700.000. He signed a contract worth €400.000 per year.[9]

On 6 November he scored his first goal helping Saint-Étienne draw against second place Montpellier.[10] In a game against Sochaux Nicoliță offered the assist for teenager Zouma to give Saint-Étienne the win.[11] After only six months with the French team he became a leader scoring 3 goals and offering 3 assists after his first 11 appearances.[12] In February 2012 Nicoliță hit a rough patch, having a couple of not so convincing games, being described as monotonous.[13] In March, he was sidelined for a couple of weeks, due to ligament problems.[14] He recovered in late March 2012 and played in the games against Montpellier and Olympique Lyonnais, both 1–0 defeats.[15]

Loan to Nantes

On 2 September 2013, Ligue 1 club FC Nantes confirmed Nicoliță was signed on a season long loan from Saint-Étienne. He made an assist for his first match against FC Sochaux.

International career

Nicoliță won 34 caps for Romania up to date and scored one goal. He also used to be a Romanian U21 international.

On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu for the results on Qualifying to EURO 2008 and qualification to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C with Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class II with two barret.[16][17]

He was captain for the first time in the friendly against San Marino on 11 August 2011.

Personal life

Nicoliță is an ethnic Romani,[18] one of six brothers raised by his mother in the small, impoverished town of Făurei, Nicoliță grew up determined to succeed and his speed and diligence on the field are proof of his unalloyed passion for the game.

One of his brothers, Stelian is also a professional footballer who played for CF Brăila and other teams in the lower leagues of Romania.[19][20] Bănel and Stelian played together at their hometown team CS Făurei.[21]

Nicoliță has been nicknamed Jardel after the famous Mário Jardel of Brazil.

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dacia Unirea Brăila 2001–02 274000000274
2002–03 289000000289
2003–04 20100000002010
Total 75230000007523
Politehnica Timișoara 2004–05 153100000163
Total 153100000163
Steaua 2004–05 142001000152
2005–06 29700174104711
2006–07 3224112010493
2007–08 273008100354
2008–09 263007200335
2009–10 2821011300405
2010–11 274216000355
2011–12 5000201080
Total 188237164103025234
Saint-Étienne 2011–12 193100000203
2012–13 3000000030
2013–14 3000210051
Total 253100000284
Nantes (loan) 2013–14 171200010201
Total 171200010201
Career total 30653916493038263

Statistics accurate as of match played 2 September 2014

International goals
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.2 June 2007Arena Petrol, Celje, Slovenia Slovenia2–02–1UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying

Honours
Season Club Title
2004–05Steaua BucureștiDivizia A
2005–06Steaua BucureștiDivizia A
2006Steaua BucureștiSupercupa României
2010–11Steaua BucureștiCupa României
2012–13Saint-ÉtienneCoupe de la Ligue

References
  1. "Ionel Iuga: "Banel Nicolita o sa-l vrajeasca pe Sarkozy" - Braila - Ziare.com". www.ziare.com.
  2. "Bănel Nicoliţă, transferat la Saint-Etienne".
  3. "FCSB – site-ul oficial al FC Steaua Bucuresti". www.steauafc.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  4. Nicolita brace against Betis Archived 3 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. http://www.ziare.com/articole/autogol+banel+bernabeu Nicolita autogol cu Real Madrid
  6. aedotnavzar (28 August 2008). "STEAUA – Galatasaray 1-0 – gol Nicolita". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  7. Nicolita named captain Archived 18 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Accord pour Nicolita et Gradel (in French)
  9. http://www.gsp.ro/fotbal/liga-1/nicolita-va-avea-la-st-etienne-un-salariu-mai-mare-decit-al-lui-torje-257887.html Contract Nicolita
  10. "Ligue 1: Bănel Nicoliţă, primul gol pentru St. Etienne. Daniel Niculae a adus victoria lui Nancy".
  11. "VIDEO Nicoliţă lăudat iar în presa franceză: "A fost un permanent pericol pentru Sochaux"".
  12. "VIDEO Bănel din nou erou pentru Saint Etienne! Pasă de gol şi o ratare uriaşă".
  13. http://www.gsp.ro/international/stranieri/nicolita-a-devenit-monoton-l-equipe-i-a-dat-nota-4-301833.html Nicolita a devenit monoton
  14. http://www.ziare.com/banel-nicolita/stiri-banel-nicolita/accidentarea-lui-nicolita-mai-grava-decat-se-credea-initial-1153776 Accidentarea lui nicolita grava
  15. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/03/24/france.roundup.ap/index.html France roundup
  16. "DECRET privind conferirea Ordinului și Medaliei Meritul Sportiv" (PDF). Monitorul Oficial al României Nr. 241. 28 March 2008. p. 3. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  17. "Decorarea unor personalități ale fotbalului românesc". Administrația Prezidențială. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  18. Wilson, Jonathan (22 February 2007). "Kevin Flynn on Eastern European football: Can Steaua overturn their 2-0 deficit against Sevilla?". The Guardian.
  19. "INTERVIU EXCLUSIV Fratele lui Bănel îi calcă pe urme acestuia! "Am mult de muncit pentru a-l egala"" [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Bănel's brother follows his traces! "I have a lot of work to equalize him"] (in Romanian). gsp.ro. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  20. "Viorel Ion îl vrea pe fratele lui Nicoliţă!" [Viorel Ion wants Nicolita's brother!] (in Romanian). prosport.ro. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  21. ""Fratii dinamita". Banel Nicolita inscrie pe banda rulanta la Faurei, alaturi de fratele sau, iar echipa e lider detasat" ["The Dynamite Brothers". Banel Nicolita scores many goals at Faurei alongside his brother, and the team is the top leader] (in Romanian). sport.ro. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
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