Niculescu was born in Slatina. In his first season with Dinamo Bucharest, he won the Divizia A title, and was the second top-goalscorer of the league with 15 goals. The next season Niculescu was transferred to Genoa in the Italian Second Division in 2002. After half of a season, Niculescu returned to Dinamo Bucharest, winning the championship title in 2003–04. In the 2004–05 season he shared with Gheorghe Bucur the top goalscorer of Divizia A title, forming a couple in Dinamo's offence with Ionel Dănciulescu. The Romanian press called them the "N&D couple", a nickname inspired from the first letters of their family name and the Romanian pop band "N&D". In the 2006–07 season, Niculescu won another championship title with Dinamo and became the top scorer of the league with 18 goals, four of these were scored in a match against rivals Rapid Bucharest. He was the second best goal-scorer in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup with eight goals, three less then Espanyol's Walter Pandiani. He played 43 matches and scored 18 goals for Dinamo in European matches, being the player with the most matches played and top scorer in European competitions for the club. Niculescu was a striker skilled in free kicks, being nicknamed "Lunetistul" by the Romanian press. Claudiu Niculescu is 11th in an all-time ranking for the goalscorers in Liga I, with 156 goals scored in 326 matches played.
International career
Cluaudiu Niculescu played 8 games at international level for Romania, making his debut when he came as a substitute and replaced Marius Niculae in the 81st minute of a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory against FR Yugoslavia. He also played two games at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers and one at the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Coaching career
His first experience as a coach was in November 2010 for two matches at Universitatea Cluj, where he was at the same time an active player. His second experience as a coach started in March 2012 which was also at Universitatea Cluj and also being in the same time an active player. In 15 games under his command, the club won four games, draw in six and lost five. Niculescu resigned after the first game of the 2012–13 season, a loss at Pandurii Târgu Jiu: 6–2. On 25 September 2012, Niculescu was installed as the head coach of Liga II team FC Bihor Oradea with an objective to help the team promote to the first division. In December, Niculescu ended his contract, after only eight games. In January 2013, Niculescu took over Damila Măciuca, in Liga II. September 2018, Niculescu was appointed coach of Dinamo București, following the dismissal of Florin Bratu. He signed a contract until 2020.
Managerial statistics
Personal life
Claudiu Niculescu's brothers Mihai and Dragoș and his cousin Ovidiu were footballers in the Romanian lower leagues. His father Marin was a football coach in the Romanian lower leagues. In 1998 he married Lidia and they had together two kids, Alexandru and Rebecca. They divorced in 2006. In June 2007, he married Diana Munteanu who was a TV host, their wedding was considered the wedding of the year by the Romanian press. Together they had a son named David Cristian. Claudiu and Diana divorced in 2014.
