Mircea Traian Sandu (born 22 October 1952 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) is a retired

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and president of the

Romanian Football Federation Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the sports governing body, governing body of association football, football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA sinc ...

Career

Mircea Sandu, nicknamed "Nașul" (

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

) was born on 22 October 1952 in

and started playing football at junior level at Școala Sportivă 2 București and

Progresul București Progresul is a district in southern Bucharest's Sectorul 4, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It bord ...

. He made his

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut on 30 August 1970 playing for

in a 1–0 victory against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

. The following season he went to play for Sportul Studențesc București in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

where he scored 15 goals in 28 matches, helping the team earn the promotion to the first league. The following 14 seasons Sandu played for Sportul Studențesc in

, also representing the club in 6

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

matches in which he scored two goals and helped the club win the

1979–80 Balkans Cup The 1979–80 Balkans Cup was an edition of the Balkans Cup, a football competition for representative clubs from the Balkan states. It was contested by 5 teams and Sportul Studențesc won the trophy. Group A ---- ---- ---- Group B -- ...

. After his period spent at Sportul Studențesc, Sandu went to play for Gloria Buzău for one season, making his last

appearance on 21 September 1987 in a 1–0 victory against

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

in which he scored the goal. With 167 goals scored in 408

matches, he is ranked seventh in the all-time scoring table. After he ended his playing career, Sandu was the president of the

between 1990 and 2014. On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Constitution of Romania, Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

for Romania's successful

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifying campaign with the Medalia "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

International career

Mircea Sandu made 16 appearances and scored 4 goals at international level for

, making his debut on 8 April 1972 when coach

Angelo Niculescu Angelo Niculescu (1 October 1921 – 20 June 2015) was a Romanian football player and manager. He was the coach of the Romania national football team during the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He is best remembered in Romania for inventing the "temporizar ...

used him in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 victory against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His following game was

's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers in which he scored two goals. Sandu also played in a 2–2 against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the Euro 1976 qualifiers and played both legs of the successful

1977–80 Balkan Cup The 1977–80 Balkan Cup, was the 12th Balkan Cup football tournament. It was the first to have a group stage involving the five teams split into two groups, one of three teams and the other of two, with the winner of each one meeting in the fin ...

final, a 4–3 victory on aggregate against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. His following goals for the national team were in friendlies, a 2–2 against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and a 2–1 loss against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He played two games at the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 victory against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Sandu also played two games for Romania's Olympic team at the 1976 Summer Olympics qualifiers scoring two goals in a 2–1 away victory against

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sandu goal''.

Personal life

Mircea Sandu's former wife who died in 1995, Simona Arghir was a handball player and their daughter Raluca was a professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. They also had a son named Dan Mircea. In 1997 he married Lisa Alban.

Honours

Sportul Studențesc *

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

(1): 1979–80, runner-up (1):

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

runner-up (1): 1985–86 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

runner-up (1): 1978–79 *

(1): 1971–72 Romania *

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Romania, ...

: 1977–80

Notes

References

External links

* *
Interview with Mircea Sandu
Dolce-sport.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandu, Mircea 1952 births Living people Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Liga I players Liga II players FC Progresul București players FC Sportul Studențesc București players FC Gloria Buzău players Presidents of the Romanian Football Federation Romanian sports executives and administrators Association football forwards