Nicolae Dobrin

Nicolae Dobrin (Romanian pronunciation: [nikoˈla.e doˈbrin]; 26 August 1947 – 26 October 2007) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a manager.

Nicknamed Gâscanul ("The Gander") or Prințul din Trivale ("The Prince of Trivale"), he is considered one of Romania's greatest footballers. Renowned for his dribbling ability, Dobrin received the Romanian Footballer of the Year award on three occasions, in 1966, 1967, and 1971, and a stadium in his native Pitești is named after him.

"The player I loved and for whom I will hold a special esteem is Gicu Dobrin. Thanks to him I became a respected coach, thanks to him I and FC Argeș were champions. He was a phenomenal player"

Dobrin, nicknamed Gâscanul ("The Gander") or Prințul din Trivale ("The Prince of Trivale"), was born on 26 August 1947 in Pitești, Argeș County, Romania and is considered one of Romania's greatest footballers. He began playing football as a child with his friends on a field they nicknamed "Maracana", located close to the Argeș river. One day in 1959 some players from Dinamo Pitești came to play with them, and Dobrin's team won 12–2, with him scoring six goals. After the game, Leonte Ianovschi, a coach at the youth center of Dinamo Pitești told him to come to the club's training sessions. Dobrin played for the first time in a Divizia A match when he was still 14 years old, on 1 July 1962, coach Ștefan Vasile using him in a match between Știința Cluj and Dinamo Pitești that ended with a 5–1 loss, thus holding the record of the youngest debutant in the competition.

Dobrin played for his local club Argeș Pitești for most of his professional career. His first performance occurred when the team reached the 1965 Cupa României final, where coach Virgil Mărdărescu used him as a starter in the eventual 2–1 loss to Știința Cluj. In the last round of the 1968–69 season, he scored a double and provided an assist for Petre Nuțu's goal in a 3–0 win over ASA Târgu Mureș which earned the points that saved them from relegation. In the last game of the following season, The Violet Eagles were playing against Universitatea Craiova, with Dobrin and Universitatea star Ion Oblemenco competing for the top-scorer of the season award, Oblemenco leading with one goal more than Dobrin. Oblemenco opened the score in the 37th minute, but Dobrin equalized one minute later and the game ended in a 1–1 draw, thus Dobrin finishing as the second league top-scorer with 18 goals. Afterwards, under the guidance of coach Florin Halagian he won two Divizia A titles. For the 1971–72 title, he formed a successful trio in the offence with Constantin Radu and Radu Jercan, being the team's top-scorer with 15 goals netted in 23 matches. During the winning of the 1978–79 title, he formed another successful attacking trio, this time with Marin Radu and Doru Nicolae, Dobrin contributing with nine goals scored in 22 matches. Dobrin was decisive in the final game of the season against Dinamo București in which he netted the final goal of the 4–3 victory, his performance being appreciated by journalist Ioan Chirilă who gave him a grade 10 in the Sportul newspaper.

Dobrin played 25 games and scored eight goals in European competitions (including 12 games and two goals in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup). He appeared in six games in the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, as in the first two rounds Dinamo Pitești eliminated Sevilla and Toulouse, Dobrin scoring once against the latter, being defeated in the third round with 1–0 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb who eventually won the competition. In the winter of 1966, because the French people were impressed that they defeated Toulouse, Dinamo Pitești was invited to participate at the friendly tournament organized in Marseille called Tele-magazine International Cup. There, two emissaries of Inter Milan made an offer of $250,000 to Dinamo Pitești to transfer the 19-year old Dobrin at Helenio Herrera's team, but Dinamo's officials did not want to negotiate, being fearful of possible consequences they would face from Romania's communist regime.

In the first round of the 1972–73 European Cup, he helped Argeș Pitești get past Aris Bonnevoie by scoring three goals. In the following round they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid in which Dobrin opened the score but lost the second leg with 3–1. However, this was enough for Real Madrid's president Santiago Bernabéu to want him at the club, making a potential record breaking offer of $2 million and a nocturne installation for the 1 Mai stadium in Pitești. Because of the communist regime in Romania in that period, Bernabéu had to hold talks with dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu himself, but could not persuade him, because Dobrin was regarded as a "national treasure" and such values could not be "estranged", especially not playing in a team from the country of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship. It is said that this was the biggest regret of Dobrin's life, although he did eventually end up playing in Francisco Gento's testimonial, in the famous "blanco" shirt of Real Madrid. On this occasion Santiago Bernabéu made a last unsuccessful attempt to keep the Romanian player in Madrid.

In the 1978–79 UEFA Cup, Argeș defeated Valencia in the home game with 2–1, Dobrin opening the score from an indirect free kick. According to his former teammate Andrei Speriatu, after the game, Mario Kempes, who had just won the World Cup with Argentina as the top-scorer and best player of the tournament, went to Dobrin and told him:"You are a great player!". However, Argeș lost the second leg with 5–2. His last four appearances in European competitions were in the 1979–80 European Cup as they eliminated AEK Athens in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by title holders and eventual winners, Nottingham Forest.