Nicolae Simatoc

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Nicolae Simatoc
Simatoc in 1950
Personal information
Date of birth (1920-05-01)1 May 1920[1]
Place of birth Grimăncăuți, Kingdom of Romania
Date of death 11 December 1979(1979-12-11) (aged 59)[2]
Place of death Sydney, Australia
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Position Midfielder
Youth career
1934–1938 Ripensia Timișoara
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1938–1941 Ripensia Timișoara 44 (3)
1941–1942 Carmen București[a] 0 (0)
1942–1944 Nagyváradi AC 32 (3)
1945 Vasas 9 (3)
1945–1947 Carmen București 12 (0)
1948–1949 Inter Milan 17 (3)
1949–1950 Brescia 30 (8)
1950 Hungaria FbC Roma
1950–1952 Barcelona 34 (2)
1952–1953 Real Oviedo 5 (0)
Total 183 (22)
International career
1940–1946 Romania 8 (0)
Managerial career
1959–1960 Lleida
1960–1961 Sabadell
1962–1963 AEL Limassol
1963–1968 Budapest Sydney
1969–1972 Polonia Western Eagles
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicolae Simatoc (also known as Nicolae Șmatoc, Miklós Szegedi or Nicholas Sims; 1 May 1920 – 11 December 1979) was a Romanian football player and manager.

Club career

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Romania and Hungary

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Simatoc began playing junior-level football at age 14 in 1934 at Ripensia Timișoara.[2] He made his Divizia A debut on 28 May 1939 under coach Sepp Pojar in a 1–0 home loss to Juventus București.[3][5][6] In 1941 he went to Carmen București where he spent one and a half seasons.[2][3][5] Subsequently, he moved to Hungary at Nagyváradi AC, making his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut on 18 October 1942 under coach Ferenc Rónay in a 3–0 home victory against Ferencváros.[2][3][5][7][8] Under the guidance of Rónay, he won the title in his first season, contributing with one goal in 19 matches.[2][3][5][7][9] Afterwards, Simatoc spent one year at Vasas, making his last Nemzeti Bajnokság I appearance on 13 December 1944 in a 2–0 home victory against BKV Előre SC, totaling 41 matches with six goals in the competition.[2][3][5][7] He returned to Romania at Carmen where on 7 December 1947 he played his last Divizia A match in a 6–2 home win against Ciocanul București, having a total of 57 games with three goals in the Romanian top-league.[2][3][5]

Italy

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In 1948, Simatoc joined Inter Milan, making his Serie A debut on 25 January under coach Giuseppe Meazza in a 3–0 loss to Napoli.[3][5][10][11] He scored his first goal in a 4–1 win over Fiorentina, scoring two more until the end of the season in a victory against AS Roma and a loss to Triestina.[3][11] In the following season, he helped Inter to a runner-up position in the league, making his last appearance in the competition in a 0–0 draw against Lucchese.[3][12][13][14]

Afterwards he went to play for one season at Brescia in Serie B where he scored a personal record of eight goals to help earn a sixth-place finish.[2][3][5][11][12] In 1950, Simatoc played alongside László Kubala for Hungaria FbC Roma, a team that was formed mainly from Hungarian players that left the Eastern Bloc and played exhibition games in Italy and Spain under coach Ferdinand Daučík.[2][5][10][12][15]

Spain

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His next spell was at Barcelona where on 10 September 1950 he made his La Liga debut under coach Daučík in a 8–2 win over Real Sociedad, managing to score once and provide three assists.[2][3][5][10][11] He played regularly for the Catalans in his first season, wearing the number 10 shirt, appearing in a 7–2 win over Real Madrid in the El Clásico.[3][10][11][13] He netted his second goal in another 7–2 victory against Málaga, also managing to win the Copa del Generalísimo.[3][10][11][13] In his second season with Barça, Simatoc made six league appearances as the club won The Double.[3][11][12][13] Simatoc spent the last season of his career at Real Oviedo where on 22 March 1953 he played his last La Liga game, a 4–0 away loss to Valencia, having a total of 39 matches with two goals in the competition.[3][10][11][16]

International career

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Simatoc played eight games for Romania, making his debut on 22 September 1940 at age 20 under coach Liviu Iuga in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away victory against Yugoslavia.[17][18] His last three games for the national team were in the 1946 Balkan Cup, consisting of a draw against Bulgaria, a victory over Yugoslavia and a loss to Albania.[17]

Managerial career

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After retiring as a player, Simatoc became a coach, managing Lleida between 1959 and 1960 in the Spanish third league, promoting Eladio to play for the team.[5][11][13][19] Afterwards he coached Sabadell from 1960 until 1961 in the second league.[5][11][13][19][20] In 1961 he worked as a technical director for Espanyol, then in 1962, Simatoc went to Cyprus to coach AEL Limassol for one year.[2][11][13][19]

In 1963, he moved to Australia, coaching Budapest Sydney for five years, then at Polonia Western Eagles for three years.[11][12][13][19][21]

Personal life

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Simatoc was born to Romanian parents on 1 May 1920 in Grimăncăuți, then part of Romania, present-day Moldova.[2][3][5] His birth name was Nicolae Șmatoc, while in Hungary he was known as Miklós Szegedi and in Australia as Nicholas Sims.[2][5] Simatoc was married to a Hungarian woman named Etelka Stolárcsik, with whom he had two sons, Silvio and Santi.[2][5][11][12][22] Silvio, born in 1950, had followed his father's footsteps and played for the junior squads of Barcelona and in the first league of Australia at Hakoah Sydney City.[11][19]

Simatoc was multilingual, speaking ten languages: Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian, Russian, Italian, Spanish, English, French, Catalan and German.[2][5][19][23] After retirement he became a professional poker player and owned a casino in Australia.[2][5][11][12]

Death

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He died in Sydney on 11 December 1979 at age 59 after suffering a heart attack while playing a game of poker.[2][13]

Legacy

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A stadium in Lozova, Moldova is named after him.[24]

A book about him was written in 2013 by Octavian Țîcu and Boris Boguș titled Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). Legenda unui fotbalist basarabean de la Ripensia la FC Barcelona (Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). The legend of a Bessarabian footballer from Ripensia to FC Barcelona).[2][5][13][19][25] A documentary about him called Nicolae Simatoc - variațiuni pe un nume (Nicolae Simatoc - variations on a name) was released in 2017.[2][5][26]

Honours

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Nagyváradi

Barcelona

Notes

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  1. ^ The Divizia A 1940–41 was the last season before World War II and the Divizia A 1946–47 was the first one after, so the appearances and goals scored during this period for Carmen București are not official with the exception of the 1945–46 regional championship.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Nicolae Simatoc at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "45 de ani de la moartea șocantă a primului fotbalist român cu anvergură europeană: infarct la masa de poker!" [45 years since the shocking death of the first Romanian footballer with European stature: heart attack at the poker table!] (in Romanian). Iamsport.ro. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Nicolae Simatoc at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  4. ^ "File de poveste – perioada Juventus! Episodul XXIV – "Ultimul șut aduce promovarea"" [Story files - the Juventus period! Episode XXIV - "The Last Shot Gets the Promotion"] (in Romanian). Ploiestiulpatrianoastra.com. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Simatoc, mai mult decât un fotbalist" [Simatoc, more than a footballer] (in Romanian). Welovesport.ro. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  6. ^ "Ripensia Timisoara vs Juventus București 0-1" (in Romanian). Labtof.ro. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Szegedi Miklós profile" (in Romanian). Magyarfutball.hu. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
  8. ^ "Nagyváradi AC - Ferencváros FC 3 : 0" (in Romanian). Magyarfutball.hu. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
  9. ^ "Despre noi" [About us] (in Romanian). Caoradea.ro. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Nicolae Simatoc, primul român care a jucat la Inter" [Nicolae Simatoc, the first Romanian to play for Inter] (in Romanian). Adevarul.ro. 22 June 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Nicolae Simatoc – singurul basarabean care a jucat la Inter și Barcelona - ajuns la centenar!" [Nicolae Simatoc – the only Bessarabian to play for Inter and Barcelona – has reached the centenary!] (in Romanian). Fmf.md. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Poker, mașini și fotbal: viața de thriller a primului român care a jucat la FC Barcelona" [Poker, cars and football: the thriller life of the first Romanian to play for FC Barcelona] (in Romanian). Theplaymaker.ro. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Nicolae Simatoc. O viață ca un roman" [Nicolae Simatoc. A life like a novel] (in Romanian). Banatulazi.ro. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  14. ^ "Nicolae Simatoc. Serie A 1948/1949". WorldFootball. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  15. ^ "SIMATOC-100. Lucruri inedite despre Nicolae Simatoc" [SIMATOC-100. New things about Nicolae Simatoc] (in Romanian). Fmf.md. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Nicolae Simatoc. La Liga 1952/1953". WorldFootball. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Nicolae Simatoc profile". European Football. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  18. ^ "Yugoslavia 1-2 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
    "Nicolae Simatoc" (in Romanian). Ripensiatimisoara.ro. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g "Povestea vieții lui Silvio Simatoc, fiul legendarului fotbalist format de Ripensia, care a evoluat pentru Inter și Barcelona" [The life story of Silvio Simatoc, the son of the legendary footballer from Ripensia, who played for Inter and Barcelona] (in Romanian). Ripensiatimisoara.ro. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  20. ^ "CE Sabadell FC - Entrenadors" [CE Sabadell FC - Coaches]. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  21. ^ "Edición del Wednesday, Página 3" [Wednesday edition, Page 3] (in Spanish). Elmundodeportivo.es. 20 February 1963. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  22. ^ "SIMATOC-100. Interviu exclusiv cu Silvio Simatoc, fiul moldoveanului care a jucat la Barcelona" [SIMATOC-100. Exclusive interview with Silvio Simatoc, the son of the Moldovan who played for Barcelona] (in Romanian). Fmf.md. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  23. ^ "Povestea incredibilă a românului care a jucat la Inter și FC Barcelona. A fost antrenat de Giuseppe Meazza" [The incredible story of the Romanian who played for Inter and FC Barcelona. He was coached by Giuseppe Meazza] (in Romanian). Ayonews.ro. 7 February 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  24. ^ "Simatoc-100. Stadionul din Lozova, cu nume de legendă" [Simatoc-100. The stadium from Lozova, with a legendary name] (in Romanian). Fmf.md. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  25. ^ "Lansare de carte: "Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). Legenda unui fotbalist basarabean de la Ripensia la FC Barcelona", de Octavian Țîcu și Boris Boguș, la Librăria din Centru" [Book launch: "Nicolae Simatoc (1920 – 1979). The legend of a Bessarabian footballer from Ripensia to FC Barcelona", by Octavian Țîcu and Boris Boguș, at the Centru Bookstore] (in Romanian). Omiedesemne.ro. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  26. ^ "Simatoc-100. Viața lui Nicolae Simatoc într-un film documentar" [Simatoc-100. The life of Nicolae Simatoc in a documentary film] (in Romanian). Fmf.md. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
    "Documentar despre Nicolae Simatoc, primul fotbalist român care a jucat la FC Barcelona" [Documentary about Nicolae Simatoc, the first Romanian footballer to play for FC Barcelona] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
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