Banel Nicolita Bnel Nicoli (born 7 January 1985 in Furei, Brila County) is a Romanian football player of Romani descent,

currently playing for Ligue 1 side Saint-tienne and the Romania national team. Nicoli is nicknamed Jardel after the famous Mrio Jardel of Brazil. He can play as a right winger or left winger and has been used on occasion as a right back. He is known for his electrifying pace and verry high work rate. Brila and Politehnica Timioara He made his debut in Romanian Liga II, playing for Brila.[1] After, he joined Politehnica Timioara, making his Divizia A debut at the age of 19.[2] However, he made only 15 league appearances for the club before moving to Steaua Bucureti, at the beginning of 2005, he signed a 5-year contract with Steaua Bucureti.[3] Steaua Bucureti Shortly after joining Steaua, Nicoli won his first Liga I title upon his first season with the team. He is known as a humble and hard-working, though not very technical, speed and quickness are his strengths. In the spring of 2006, he scored twice in the match against Real Betis,[4] his goals opening Steaua's door to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, and then he scored again in the quarterfinals, this time against Rapid Bucureti to help his team reach the semifinals. On 1 November 2006, he scored an own goal against Real Madrid in a Champions League encounter.[5] Unfortunately for him and the Romanian side, this turned out to be decisive in the outcome of the match. He claimed he couldn't sleep for 48 hours after scoring it. After a game with FC Arge, Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor named him Bnelinho. On 27 August 2008, he has scored one goal in the match against Galatasaray, in the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League,[6] which sent Steaua Bucureti in to the group stage for the third consecutive year. Starting with the 201011 season, Bnel was the new captain of Steaua,[7] but with the arrival of new coach Ilie Dumitrescu, he soon gave his armband to Cristian Tnase. Saint-tienne On 30 August 2011, Saint-tienne announced on their official website that they had found agreement with Steaua for Nicoli's transfer and that the player would fly to France and undergo a medical the following day.[8] Being in his last year of contract with Steaua Bucureti the transfer fee was 700.000. He signed a contract worth 400.000 per year.[9]

On 6 November he scored his first goal helping Saint-tienne draw against second place Montpellier.[10] In a game against Sochaux Nicoli offerd the assist for teenager Zouma to give Saint-tienne the win.[11] After only six months with the French team he became a leader scoring 3 goals and offering 3 assists after hist first 11 appearances.[12] In February 2012 Nicoli hit a rough patch, having a couple of not so convincing games, being described as monotonous.[13] In March, he was sidelined for a couple of weeks, due to ligament problems.[14] He recovered in late March 2012 and played in the games against Montpellier and Olympique Lyonnais, both 1-0 defeats.[15] [edit] International career Nicoli won 34 caps for Romania up to date and scored one goal. He also used to be a Romanian U21 international. On 25 March 2008, he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Bsescu for the results on Qualifying to EURO 2008 and qualification to UEFA Euro 2008 Group C with Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class II with two barret. He was captain for the first time in the friendly against San Marino on 11 August 2011.