[8] On 18 April 1909, he started in the final of the 1909 Coupe Dewar at Stade de Charentonneau, which ended in a 5–0 win over AS Française.

[9] Following a brief stint at Stade Français, Nicolaï signed for the wealthy Red Star AC, which practiced "brown" amateurism.

[10] In the following year, however, he helped the club win the 1912 LFA Football Championship, and this victory allowed the club to compete in the Trophée de France, which then served as an inter-federation national championship, losing its final to Étoile des deux lacs [fr] (1–3).

[1][13] In 1908, Nicolaï was selected for the would-be France C squad that was originally listed to compete in the football tournament of the 1908 Olympic Games, but he ended up not traveling to London because the USFSA decided to send only two instead of three teams.

[1] A few months later, however, Nicolaï, who had been given a second chance to avoid prison, agreed to return to the front in June 1916, believing he could hold out, but he broke again during Verdun, so on 1 August 1916, he was again declared a deserter, and on 29 August, he was arrested again in Paris by the gendarmes (probably at his father's house) and sentenced a second time on 21 October, for desertion in the face of the enemy.