Romulus "Romică" Buia (born 15 June 1970 in

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramur ...

) is a

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 ...

n former football player and currently a manager. He was nicknamed "Figo from Berceni" by the fans of Rocar București which played the home games on the "Drumul Găzarului" field in the Berceni Neighborhood in Bucharest, because of the similarities with the Portuguese football star

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Real ...

. His son Darius Buia is also a footballer.

Career

Buia made his professional debut at the age of 18, playing for Minerul Cavnic in the Romanian

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 ...

, before joining

FC Baia Mare CS Minaur Baia Mare, commonly known as Minaur Baia Mare, simply as Baia Mare or unofficially as ''Minerul Baia Mare'', is a Romanian Association football, football Football club, club, based in Baia Mare, Maramureș County, northern Romania, fo ...

at the age of 19, a club also from

. In 1991, at the age of 21, he made international debut against United States in a friendly game. He also played for Romania national football team in 1992, this time against Mexico.

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

paid a close attention to him during the 1991–92 season. In the summer of 1992,

Johan Cruijff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a pr ...

, the Catalan side coach, invited him to train with the team but in the end the transfer did not materialised. Buia started the 1992–93 at

but was then transferred to

Germinal Ekeren Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

(3550) of Belgium during the season. He played in Belgium for two years, before being loaned back to Romania, this time at Universitatea Craiova, therefore making his debut in Romanian top league, Divizia A. In 1995, he returned to

Ekeren Ekeren () is a northern district of the municipality of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The suburb celebrated its 850th birthday in 2005; the name of the town was first mentioned in 1155, as "Hecerna". The name possibly originates from ...

but after at half season he terminated his contract and returned in Romania, signing a contract with Sportul Studenţesc of

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 ...

, before joining again Universitatea Craiova for two seasons. In 1998 his contract with Universitatea Craiova terminated and he failed to find another one with a top team, and therefore played for Progresul Şomcuta Mare, a team from the Romanian fourth division. In 2000, he returned to Divizia A after signing a contract with

Rocar București Rocar (also T.V. or Autobuzul) was a van, light truck, bus and trolleybus manufacturer based in Bucharest, Romania. The firm also produced light offroad vehicles and later heavy road vehicles. During its existence, the company produced over 350,00 ...

. After only a year he joined

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

but left the team at the end of 2001 to play for

Gloria Bistriţa Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

. In 2002, he was signed by Politehnica Timișoara, where he stayed until 2005, before being sacked by the new Timișoara coach,

Cosmin Olăroiu Cosmin Aurelian Olăroiu (born 10 June 1969) is a Romanian professional football manager and former footballer in charge of UAE Pro League Sharjah FC. As a manager, he guided Steaua Bucharest to the Romanian League title and Romanian Supercup ...

and subsequently joining

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative ...

. In the season 2005–06 he played at

FCM Reșița The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft ...

Liga II 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 ...

before signing for AS Covaci in Romanian

Liga IV Liga IV is the fourth level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia D into Liga IV before the start of play for the 2006–07 season. Current format Liga IV has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised a ...

. Between 2007 and 2011 he played for FC Chişoda in

and FCMU Baia Mare in

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

. Then he became the manager of FCMU Baia Mare between 2011 and 2013 until the dissolution of the club. From July 2015, he is the manager of

club, ACSF Comuna Recea.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buia, Romulus 1970 births Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Association football forwards Living people Sportspeople from Baia Mare CS Minaur Baia Mare (football) players Beerschot A.C. players FC U Craiova 1948 players FC Sportul Studențesc București players AFC Rocar București players FC Dinamo București players ACF Gloria Bistrița players FC Politehnica Timișoara players CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu players CS Minaur Baia Mare (football) managers CS Academica Recea managers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Liga I players Romanian football managers