Daniel Niculae was born on October 6, 1982 in Bucureşti, Romania.
Daniel started his professional football career with FC Rapid Bucureşti in 2001. On May 16, 2001 he made his debut for the first squad in the 1-1 draw against FC Steaua Bucureşti. Yet, he spent most of the 2001/2002 season with the reserve side of the club, but in the 2002/2003 season, the striker finally became a first-team regular and scored 6 goals in 29 games, helping Rapid to win the national championship that year. Overall, Niculae played 133 matches and scored 33 goals for the club during his five-year stay. In the 2005/2006 season he also featured in twelve UEFA Cup matches scoring 3 goals and was one of the architects of Rapid’s reaching the quarter-finals then. Besides, Niculae became a two-time Cupa României winner and twice triumphed in the Supercupa României.
In the summer 2006, the footballer moved to the French side AJ Auxerre and that very season scored 4 goals in 6 games of the 2006/2007 UEFA Cup campaign. He also featured in 30 league matches for the main team where he scored 4 goals. The 2007/2008 season brought 11 more goals to Niculae’s Ligue 1 tally, the Romanian striker appearing in 35 games of the French top flight. During the rest two seasons with Auxerre, Daniel featured in 65 league games, scored 4 goals and became one of the best assistants of the tournament in 2010.
After Niculae’s contract with AJ Auxerre expired in the summer 2010, the footballer moved to the AS Monaco. Here he appeared in 17 matches and scored 4 goals during a two-year stint at the club. The season ended with Monaco relegation to the Ligue 2 and Daniel joined AS Nancy on a season-long loan. On January 28, 2012 he scored a brace into the net of his former club AJ Auxerre. All in all, the footballer appeared in 31 matches and scored 6 goals for Nancy.
In the summer 2012, Niculae signed a contract with FC Kuban Krasnodar and on August 27, 2012 scored his first official goal for the new team coming on in the 72nd minute of the game against FC Volga Nizhniy Novgorod and making a right-footed finish in the 76th minute.
Having played several games for the Romania U-21 national squad, Daniel Niculae made his debut for the senior team of his country in a friendly match against Ukraine on 20 August 2003. He was also a part of the Romania national squad for the UEFA Euro 2008, where he featured in 3 games.
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