Nicolae Simatoc

Nicolae Simatoc
Simatoc in 1950 with Barcelona
Personal information
Birth name Nicolae Șmatoc
Date of birth (1920-05-01)1 May 1920
Place of birth Grimăncăuți, Kingdom of Romania
Date of death 11 December 1979(1979-12-11) (aged 59)
Place of death Sydney, Australia
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position Midfielder
Youth career
1934–1938 Ripensia Timișoara
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1938–1941 Ripensia Timișoara 44 (3)
1941–1942 Carmen București 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
1946 Carmen București (player/coach)
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

Romania and Hungary

Simatoc began playing junior-level football at age 14 in 1934 at Ripensia Timișoara. He made his Divizia A debut on 28 May 1939 under coach Sepp Pojar in a 1–0 home loss to Juventus București. In 1941, he went to Carmen București where he spent one and a half seasons. 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. Under the guidance of Rónay, he won the title in his first season, contributing with one goal in 19 matches. 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. 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, accumulating a total of 57 games with three goals in the Romanian top-league.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. He netted his second goal in another 7–2 victory against Málaga, also managing to win the Copa del Generalísimo. In his second season with Barça, Simatoc made six league appearances as the club won The Double. 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.

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. 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.

Managerial career

Simatoc had a short tenure as a player-coach in 1946 at Carmen București. After retiring as a player, he became a coach, managing Lleida between 1959 and 1960 in the Spanish third league, promoting Eladio to play for the team. Afterwards, he coached Sabadell from 1960 until 1961 in the second league. In 1961 he worked as a technical director for Espanyol, and then in 1962, Simatoc went to Cyprus to coach AEL Limassol for one year. In 1963, he moved to Australia, coaching Budapest Sydney for five years, and then Polonia Western Eagles for three years.

Personal life

Simatoc was born to Romanian parents on 1 May 1920 in Grimăncăuți, then part of Romania, present-day Moldova. His birth name was Nicolae Șmatoc, while in Hungary he was known as Miklós Szegedi and in Australia as Nicholas Sims. Simatoc was married to a Hungarian woman named Etelka Stolárcsik, with whom he had two sons, Silvio and Santi. 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.

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

Death

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

Legacy

A stadium in Lozova, Moldova is named after him.

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). A documentary about him called Nicolae Simatoc - variațiuni pe un nume (Nicolae Simatoc - variations on a name) was released in 2017.

Honours

Nagyváradi

Barcelona

Notes

  1. ↑ The 1940–41 Divizia A was the last season before World War II and the 1946–47 Divizia A 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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nicolae Simatoc at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "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. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Nicolae Simatoc profile". Labtof.ro. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "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.
  21. ↑ "CE Sabadell FC - Entrenadors" [CE Sabadell FC - Coaches]. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  22. ↑ "Edición del Wednesday, Página 3" [Wednesday edition, Page 3] (in Spanish). Elmundodeportivo.es. 20 February 1963. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "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.
  24. ↑ "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.
  25. ↑ "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.
  26. ↑ "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.
  27. ↑ "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.