Nicolae Simatoc
Romanian footballer (1920–1979)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
|
Simatoc in 1950 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1 May 1920[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Grimăncăuți, Kingdom of Romania | ||
| Date of death | 11 December 1979 (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 | |||
Club career
Romania and Hungary
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
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
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, totaling 39 matches with two goals in the competition.[3][10][11][16]
International career
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
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
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
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
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
Notes
- 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]
