Early career Nicolae, nicknamed
Colombo, was born on 22 March 1952 in
Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football at Abatorul București under the guidance of coach Jean Bârlăgeanu. In 1971 he joined
Petrolul Ploiești where on 19 December, coach
Ilie Oană gave him his
Divizia A debut in a 2–0 home loss to
UTA Arad. Two years later, Nicolae arrived at
Steaua București, but after playing only one league game, he went to
Divizia C side, Șoimii TAROM București. In the following round they met
Valencia led by
Mario Kempes, earning a 2–1 win in the first leg, but they lost the second one with 5–2, thus the campaign ended. In the
same season he formed a successful offensive trio with
Nicolae Dobrin and
Marin Radu, scoring four goals in the 33 appearances given to him by coach
Florin Halagian. One of these goals was netted in the final game of the season against
Dinamo București which ended with a 4–3 victory that helped Argeș win the title. In the following season he scored two goals in the 3–2 aggregate victory against
AEK Athens in the first round of the
1979–80 European Cup, the team being eliminated in the following one by title holders and eventual winners,
Nottingham Forest. In the
same season he also netted a personal record of 11 goals in first league football. He also played in a 4–2 home victory over
Juventus in the first round of the
1980–81 UEFA Cup, but they did not manage to qualify further as the first leg was lost with 4–0.
Late career After the spell in Greece, Nicolae returned to Romania at Gloria Bistrița in
Divizia B. After half a year, he moved back to Divizia A football at
Bihor Oradea, but a year later, Nicolae rejoined Gloria, where he unsuccessfully pursued promotion to the first league for several seasons. In 1987 Nicolae had a short spell at
Universitatea Craiova where on 10 May he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 1–0 home win over
Universitatea Cluj, totaling 156 matches with 26 goals in the competition. He ended his career in 1988 after another spell at Gloria in the second league. ==International career==