Nicolae Pantea (born 12 February 1946) is a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

former

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and

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Club career

Nicolae Pantea was born on 12 February 1946 in Beliu, Arad County,

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

and he started to play junior level football in 1961 at Rapid Arad for three years, afterwards moving at

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

where he made his Divizia A debut on 30 August 1964 under coach

Coloman Braun-Bogdan Coloman Braun-Bogdan (13 October 1905 – 15 March 1983) was a Romanian football midfielder and football manager. Born in Arad, Arad County, which was at the time part of Austria-Hungary, he made a name for himself as one of the best Roman ...

in a 3–0 away loss against Steagul Roșu Brașov. He went to play for Steaua București in 1966, a team with whom he won the

1967–68 Divizia A The 1967–68 Divizia A was the fiftieth season of Divizia A, the top-level football league of Romania. Teams League table Results Divizia A play-off The 13th and 14th-placed teams of the Divizia A faces the 2nd-placed teams from the serie ...

title in which coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács ( ro, Ştefan Covaci; hu, Kovács István; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. By winning 15 major titles he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of th ...

used him in six matches, also helping the club win four Cupa României. During his period spent with '' The Military Men'' he also played 14 games in European competitions, taking part in the

1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1971–72 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers, who defeated Dynamo Moscow in the final. Preliminary round First leg ---- Second leg ''4–4 on aggregate; Austria Wien won on away goal ...

campaign, playing six games as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and

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, being eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the

away goal rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

by Bayern Munich. After 9 seasons spent at Steaua, Pantea went to play 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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

at Petrolul Ploiești, retiring shortly afterwards, having a total of 249 appearances with 30 goals scored in Divizia A and 35 matches in which he scored 7 goals in Cupa României.

International career

Nicolae Pantea played two games at international level for

, making his debut on 23 April 1972 under coach

Gheorghe Ola Gheorghe Ola (10 October 1928 – 1995) was a Romanian footballer and manager. Honours Manager ;Romania * UEFA European Under-18 Championship: 1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New ...

in a friendly against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

which ended 2–2. In his last match for the national team, he scored his first and only goal for '' The Tricolours'', it was the fifth goal of the team's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against

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at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers. In 1971, Pantea also made an appearance for Romania's Olympic team in a 2–1 away victory against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

International goals

Managerial career

Nicolae Pantea first worked as a coach at Steaua's Center for Children and Juniors, in various age categories, in parallel, in certain periods also being an assistant at Romania's national youth team. In 1984, he was for a short time head coach at UTA while the team was in

. From 1985 to 1990, he was the head of Steaua's Center for Children and Juniors, then he worked for the Romanian Football Federation as a deputy general secretary, being responsible for the youth sector, also in 2000 he was the head of the Central Commission of Referees for a few months. In 2016, the stadium from Nicolae Pantea's native commune, Beliu was renamed after him in his honor.

Honours

Steaua București * Divizia A: 1967–68 * Cupa României: 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71 Petrolul Ploiești *

: 1976–77

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pantea, Nicolae 1946 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Olympic footballers for Romania Liga I players Liga II players FC UTA Arad players FCSB players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Romania men's international footballers FCSB non-playing staff Sportspeople from Arad County Romanian football managers FC UTA Arad managers Men's association football midfielders