Nicolae Simatoc

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…

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.

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.

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.