Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a Romanian football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, and in La Liga with Sevilla. He began and finished his career with Steaua București, had spells in Mexico with América and Atlante and had a brief loan spell with Olt Scorniceşti during the early stages of his career. He initially shot to fame when his frontline partnership with Gheorghe Hagi and Florin Răducioiu led the Romania national team to the 1994 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal. In eliminating Argentina en route, Dumitrescu scored twice in a 3–2 win, despite playing in an unfamiliar striker position with Răducioiu unavailable. Overall he was capped 62 times, scoring 20 goals and was also present at World Cup 90 and World Cup 98. Following retirement, Dumitrescu has had an extensive career as a manager in his native country as well as Greece and Cyprus, with a spells at Oţelul Galaţi, Braşov, Alki Larnaca, Romania U–21, FCM Bacău, Apollon Limassol, AEK Athens, Egaleo, Akratitos, Kallithea, PAOK, Panthrakikos, and Steaua București. Club career Born in Bucharest, Dumitrescu joined the Steaua București Academy in 1977 at the age of 8 and made his way through the youth system. In April 1987, he made his debut in Liga I at the age of 18. Steaua, who had won the European Champions Cup the previous year, loaned Dumitrescu to FC Olt to gain more experience. At FC Olt Dumitrescu was a regular starter, playing as left full-back. Returning from his loan, Dumitrescu became an important part of the Steaua București squad, playing alongside big names such as Marius Lăcătuş and Gheorghe Hagi. After the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the best of his club teammates got contracts abroad, but Dumitrescu remained with Steaua and became the side's captain. With Steaua, he won the Romanian Cup in 1992, the championship in 1993 and played in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup the same year. Impressed by his performance at the USA World Cup in 1994, the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur were keen to offer him a contract. The North London side paid £2.6 million for Dumitrescu. He was later loaned out to Sevilla FC, with the La Liga side given an option to buy him during the loan. Dumitrescu had a good