Nicolae Manea

Manea was born on 11 March 1954 in Bucharest, Romania. He began playing junior-level football at the age of 12 at Rapid București. He made his Divizia A debut on 16 March 1974 under coach Ion Urechiatu in Rapid's 1–1 draw against Steagul Roșu Brașov. The club suffered relegation at the end of that season, but Manea stayed with the team, helping it gain promotion back to the first league after one year by scoring 11 goals. They also reached the 1975 Cupa României final and Manea netted a brace under coach Ion Motroc in the 2–1 victory against Universitatea Craiova. Subsequently, he played in both legs of the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup, where Rapid were eliminated in the first round with 2–1 on aggregate by Anderlecht, who eventually won the competition. He suffered another relegation with Rapid at the end of the 1976–77 season. In 1980, Manea joined Steaua București where he played nine league matches and scored a goal in a 2–2 draw against FCM Brașov during his half a year spell. Afterwards, he returned to Rapid, helping the team gain Divizia A promotion at the end of the 1982–83 season by scoring 15 goals. In 1987, he returned to Divizia B at Gloria Bistrița, netting 14 goals in the 1989–90 season to help them gain promotion to the first league. Subsequently, he scored the club's first Divizia A goal in a 2–1 loss to Inter Sibiu. Manea made his last Divizia A appearance on 21 April 1991 in Gloria's 1–0 away loss to Dacia Unirea Brăila, totaling 209 matches with 42…

Manea played several matches for Romania's under-23 national team. Manea made one appearance for Romania on 2 July 1976 under coach Ștefan Kovács in a 2–2 friendly draw against Iran, played at Aryamehr Stadium in Tehran.

Manea had his first coaching experience while still an active player, being the assistant coach of Remus Vlad from 1989 to 1991. He began his career as head coach at Drobeta-Turnu Severin in 1991. From 1992 to 1996, he coached Unirea Dej. Subsequently, between 1996 and 1997, Manea led Bihor Oradea and shortly afterwards he had his first Divizia A experience at Rapid București. He continued to work in the first division, signing with Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț in 1998. During the 1998–99 season, he worked as an assistant coach at Rapid for Mircea Lucescu, Mircea Rednic and Dumitru Dumitriu, while also leading them as head coach for a few rounds, as the club won the title. Afterwards, Manea had three tenures with Romania's under-21 national team, the first of which took place in 1999. The second occurred in 2002 after Ion Moldovan left the team, though it lasted for only one match before Ilie Dumitrescu took charge of the squad. Finally, Manea returned to lead the team from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, he coached FC Brașov. Between 2007 and 2010, Manea worked for Rapid in different roles, including the positions of general secretary, managing director, deputy general manager, technical director and also head coach for a few matches in the 2009–10 season. In October 2010, Manea was appointed head coach at Gloria Bistrița. Although he successfully steered the team away from relegation on the pitch, the Romanian Football Federation subsequently relegated the club to the second division due…

His son, Florin, was a footballer who briefly played in Divizia A for Gloria Bistrița and later became a sports agent. Manea was diagnosed with liver cancer at the beginning of 2014 and died on 15 December 2014 in Bucharest.