Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player.

Club career

Ioan Sabău, nicknamed ''Moțul'' after the people from

Țara Moților Țara Moților (german: Motzenland), also known as ''Țara de Piatră'' ("The Stone Land") is an ethnogeographical region of Romania in the Apuseni Mountains, on the upper drainage basin, basin of the Arieș River (Mureș), Arieș and Crișul Alb ...

because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 in

Câmpia Turzii Câmpia Turzii (; german: Jerischmarkt; hu, Aranyosgyéres) is a municipality in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania, which was formed in 1925 by the union of two villages, Ghiriș (''Aranyosgyéres'') and Sâncrai (''Szentkirály''). It was de ...

, starting to play football at junior level in 1985 at Universitatea Cluj, under the guidance of coaches Alexa Uifăleanu and Nicolae Szoboszlay. He made his professional debut playing for Universitatea in the 1984–85 Divizia B season under coach Remus Vlad, helping the team win promotion to Divizia A, where in the following season he made his debut on 8 March 1986, replacing Nicolae Bucur for the last 9 minutes of a 1–0 loss against Rapid București, also under the guidance of coach Remus Vlad. In 1988, Sabău had offers from

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 ...

and Steaua București, choosing to play for the first because of coach

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...

's project of building a team composed of mainly young players like himself. But Steaua's officials with president

Ion Alecsandrescu Ion Alecsandrescu (17 July 1928 – 21 June 2000) was the president of Steaua București during the team's golden era, between 1985 and 1989. His nickname was ''Sfinxul'' () and was recently declared as ''Steaua Bucharest's Man of the Century' ...

and the relatives of dictator

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

, his son Valentin who was Steaua's unofficial president and brother Ilie who was a Romanian army general insisted and pressured Sabău on several occasions to sign with the club, especially during his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...

in which he played for

Ministry of National Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

club and friend team of Steaua, ASA Târgu Mureş, but he refused, eventually going to Dinamo who gave four players to Universitatea Cluj in exchange for him, including Florin Prunea. He spent two seasons with '' The Red Dogs'', in the first one he did not win any trophies and reached the quarter-finals in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after 1–1 on aggregate by Sampdoria and in the following season the club won the title and the cup with Sabău playing 24 Divizia A matches in which he scored five goals and scored one goal in the 6–4 victory from the 1990 Cupa României Final against Steaua București, also appearing in 7 matches in which he scored two goals in the

1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1989–90 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won for the only time by Sampdoria in the final against Anderlecht, 2–0 at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, on 9 May 1990. They went on to win 1990–91 Serie A, also being runners-up in the 199 ...

where Dinamo reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Sabău was transferred by Dinamo at

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

for over one million$, where he spent two seasons, winning two cups and one supercup, also helping the club reach the

1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1991–92 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Werder Bremen in the final against Monaco. Both were first-time finalists in the competition. Defending champions Manchester United were eliminated by Atlético Madrid in the second ...

semi-finals, appearing in 3 matches from the campaign and was colleague in his second season with fellow Romanian,

Marian Damaschin Marian Damaschin (born 1 May 1965) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Marian Damaschin was born on 1 May 1965 in Urziceni, Romania, starting to play football at Rapid București, including spend ...

. In 1992 he was sold by

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

for over one million€, playing two seasons in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

and two in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

a period in which he was declared the best right midfielder from

in 1993, managed to win the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1994 and was colleague with compatriots

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...

, Florin Răducioiu, Dorin Mateuț and Dănuț Lupu, the team's nickname being "Brescia Romena". In July 1996, Lucescu signed with

club, Reggiana, bringing Ioan Sabău with him, but the team finised on the last place in the end of the season. After another

season at

, Sabău returned to Romania in 1998 at Rapid București, at the advice of coach

, appearing in 22 matches in which he scored one goal in the 1998–99 season, helping the team win the first title after 32 years. In the 2000–01 season, he was a player-coach at Universitatea Cluj in

Divizia C 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 ...

, helping the team win promotion to

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 ...

, leaving shortly afterwards because of a conflict with the club's officials. In 2001, he returned to play for Rapid for two seasons, winning the 2002–03 Divizia A title, playing 16 Divizia A matches in which he scored one goal, also winning a cup and a supercup with coach Mircea Rednic and made his last Divizia A appearance on 24 May 2003 in a 3–0 home victory against UTA Arad. He made his last appearance as a footballer at the end of the 2004–05 Divizia B season for Gaz Metan Mediaș, a team which he was also at that time its head coach. Ioan Sabău has a total of 70 matches and six goals scored in

, 55 matches and six goals scored in

, 39 games with 11 goals scored in

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

, 172 appearances and 17 goals scored in Divizia A and 25 games played with 3 goals scored in European competitions. A book about him was written by Ilie Dobre, called ''Ioan Ovidiu Sabău și Patima fotbalului'' ''(Ioan Ovidiu Sabău and the passion for football)''.

International career

Ioan Sabău played 55 games and scored 8 goals for

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 ...

, making his debut on 3 February 1988 at age 19 under coach Emerich Jenei in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 away victory 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 scored his first goal three days later in a friendly which ended 2–2 against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. He played 6 matches and scored two goals at the successful 1990 World Cup qualifiers, one in a 3–0 victory against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and one in the 3–1 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

which was decisive for the qualification at the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

where he was used by coach Emerich Jenei as a starter in all four matches, as

got eliminated by

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the eight-finals. He played 7 games and scored one goal at the Euro 1992 qualifiers, made 8 appearances at the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers but could not be part of the squad that went to play at the

because of an injury. He played one game at the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers, being selected by coach Anghel Iordănescu to be part of the squad that went at the

but did not play a single match, being injured. Ioan Sabău played three games at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers but was not selected to take part at the

and made his last three appearances for the national team at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, one in a group match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

which ended with a 2–0 away victory and two in both legs of the play-off against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

which was lost with 3–2 on aggregate. For representing his country at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

, Sabău 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 Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a 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 between 1991 ...

on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

International goals

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

Managerial career

Ioan Sabău started his coaching career in 2000 with Universitatea Cluj in

, also being a player, helping the team win promotion to

, leaving shortly afterwards because of a conflict with the club's officials. At the beginning of the

2003–04 Divizia B The 2003–04 Divizia B was the 64th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been changed from two series of 16 teams to three series, each of them consisting of 16 teams. At the end of the season, the win ...

, he returned at Universitatea, but left after only two games, going to coach fellow

team, Gaz Metan Mediaș for two seasons, but did not manage to win a promotion to Divizia A. In 2005 he went to coach Divizia A club, Gloria Bistrița for four seasons, the highlights of this period being a sixth-place finish at the end of the 2006–07 season and a 2–1 home victory against Atlético Madrid in the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup final, however the second leg was lost with 1–0, thus losing the final on the away goals rule. In the 2009–10 season, Sabău coached Politehnica Timișoara, eliminating

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

holders

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

in the third round of the 2009–10 Champions League, which was his former coach,

's team, but was eliminated by

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

in the next round, reaching the 2009–10 Europa League group stage which he did not pass and finished the championship on the 5th position. In the following years, he went to coach first league clubs,

FCM Târgu Mureș 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 ...

on two occasions and Rapid București, his last spell as a coach being in the second league at ASA Târgu Mureș, without any notable results. Ioan Sabău has a total of 226 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 86 victories, 56 draws and 84 losses.

Personal life

Sabău is featured on the cover of FIFA 96, playing for

in a match against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

at the Anglo-Italian Cup final in a duel with Andy Legg, being the first Romanian that appeared on the cover of a FIFA video game. He is a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.EXCLUSIV Ioan Ovidiu Sabău discută deschis despre apropierea de Martorii lui Iehova – De ce nu sărbătorește Crăciunul
/ref>

Honours

Player

Universitatea Cluj *

: 1984–85 *

: 2000–01 Dinamo București * Divizia A: 1989–90 * Cupa României: 1989–90 Feyenoord * Dutch Cup:

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1991–92 * Dutch Super Cup:

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

Brescia * Anglo-Italian Cup: 1993–94 Rapid București * Divizia A: 1998–99, 2002–03 * Cupa României: 2001–02 * Supercupa României: 2002

Manager

Universitatea Cluj *

: 2000–01

References

External links

* *
Ioan Sabău
at 4everucluj.ro
Ioan Sabău
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabau, Ioan 1968 births People from Câmpia Turzii Living people Romanian footballers Association football midfielders FC Universitatea Cluj players FC Dinamo București players Feyenoord players Brescia Calcio players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players FC Rapid București players Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players Eredivisie players Serie A players Serie B players Romania international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian football managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers FC Politehnica Timișoara managers FC Rapid București managers Romanian Jehovah's Witnesses ACF Gloria Bistrița managers CS Gaz Metan Mediaș managers ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș managers