Silviu Bălace
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Silviu Constantin Bălace (born 13 November 1978) 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, traditional ...
retired professional footballer and currently a manager. Although primarily a
left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...
, Bălace has played as a
left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
as well and is known for his overlapping runs on the left side, his pace and his technical ability.


Club career


Early years

Born in
Caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...
, Bălace started out as a trainee at Universitatea Craiova. On 24 May 1997, he made his first team debut, coming as a substitute in a 2–0 loss against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. Shortly after, when he was 18 years old, Bălace suffered an ankle fracture which kept him out from the field for almost a year and a half. After he recovered he was sent out on loan to Chindia Târgoviște in 1999 in order to gain experience. In January 2001, Bălace was loaned out to Rocar București for twelve months. Following his third failed attempt to establish himself in the first team, Bălace signed a contract with Divizia B team CSM Reșița.


Poli AEK Timișoara

Following his successful short spell in Reșița, Bălace signed in January 2003 with newly promoted Divizia A side Poli AEK Timișoara. His league debut for his new team, was on 16 April, in the local derby against UTA Arad, coming as a substitute for Romeo Stancu. He ended his first season goalless, in which Timișoara eventually remained in the top flight, after winning the play-off against Gloria Buzău. Usually used as a left back, under the management of Basarab Panduru, Bălace established himself as Timișoara's first choice left winger. On 1 November 2003, he scored his first league goal for Timișoara, in a 3–0 win against Brașov. On 9 April 2004, he assisted at probably Timișoara's most humiliating loss from their history, a 1–8 loss on their own field against Steaua București. Following his successful spell in Timișoara, despite his team's up and down season, the Viola fans nicknamed Bălace "Nedved from Banat" due to his Pavel Nedved lookalike. His nickname was taken over by Dinamo fans who called him "Nedved from Stefan cel Mare", but also by Vaslui fans with "Nedved from Vaslui". On 11 August 2004, he captained Timișoara for the first time, in a 1–2 loss against FCM Bacău. On 4 August 2005, Bălace played against Pavel Nedved, in a 2–2 friendly match against Juventus Torino. The unexpected departure of Moldovan in mid-2006 led to Bălace being awarded club captaincy. Despite he was one of the most beloved players from Timișoara's history, Bălace was put on the transfer list in mid-2007, due to a conflict with Marian Iancu.


Dinamo

Following a conflict with Timișoara's boss Marian Iancu, on 19 December 2006, Bălace signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Dinamo București with a reported transfer fee of €200,000. On 14 February, he made his first team debut for Dinamo, playing in the startup team against Benfica in
UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
. His league debut for Dinamo was twelve days later, coming as a substitute for Vojislav Vranjković and providing his first assist for Cătălin Munteanu's only goal against Jiul Petroșani. Although he helped his team winning the championship after a three-year break, Bălace was put on the transfer list, following unsatisfying performances.


FC Vaslui

Following an unsuccessful spell at Dinamo, Bălace moved to Vaslui for $350,000 in June 2007. He established himself immediately as Vaslui's first choice left-back. Bălace made his competitive debut for Vaslui against UTA Arad in a 2–2 draw on 27 July 2007. Bălace scored his first goal for Vaslui on 5 August 2007 in a league match win against his former club Dinamo București. The final score was 2–0, with Bălace scoring Vaslui's first with a header from Dorinel Munteanu's corner. On 30 March 2008, he alongside teammates Sorin Frunză and Daniel Sabou were accused by Adrian Porumboiu of fixing a match against Steaua București. As a consequence, all three players were relegated to Vaslui's satellite. Despite they were all back in the first team five days later, due to lack of evidence, all three were dropped from the startup team, until the rest of the season. On 19 July 2008, Bălace received a red card, in Vaslui's opening match against Neftchi Baku, failing afterwards to reestablish himself as Vaslui's first choice left back. He played his second match of the season on 2 October, in a match against Slavia Prague, as a late substitute for Hugo Luz. On 6 October, he was in the startup team against FC Brașov, playing as a left midfielder, following N'Doye's suspension from yellow card accumulation. He was until the rest of the season the second choice left back, managing to play only when Hugo Luz was either suspended or injured. On 30 July 2009, Bălace was in the startup team against Omonia Nicosia, following Hugo Luz's injury. Although it seemed he managed to reestablish himself as Vaslui's first choice left back, on 13 September he received a red card against Rapid Bucuresti, making him Vaslui's third choice left back. On 1 February 2010, he was loaned out to Universitatea Craiova, for the rest of the season. When asked about Vaslui and Timișoara's quest to claim their first national title, Bălace said that "I would rather Timișoara won the national title, although I'm still under contract with Vaslui". He missed a single match for Universitatea, due to the yellow card accumulation, and helped his team to avoid the relegation. At the end of the season, despite his expressed wish to remain in Craiova, he eventually returned to Vaslui. Once with Juan López Caro's appointment, Bălace didn't get a single chance to play in the first team. On 4 September 2010, Bălace led his team's training program, following Caro's conflict with the team's owner. Bălace has been reinstated as Vaslui's first choice left back, after the arrival of new manager Viorel Hizo, in his third sting as Vaslui boss. On 15 May 2011, Bălace scored his first league goal since September 2007, in a match against Sportul Studențesc at Municipal. The final score was 4–2, with Bălace scoring Vaslui's first with a header from Nemanja Milisavljević's cross. In his fourth season in Vaslui, he finished third with his team, for the second year in a row. On 3 August 2011, Bălace was considered Vaslui's best player by Twente's manager, who stated "I enjoyed how Vaslui's Bălace played, thus being our number one danger. He won many one-on-one duels with our Ruiz". On 19 August, following Cânu and Wesley's injuries, Bălace captained Vaslui for the first time, leading his team to a 2–0 win in Europa League against Sparta Prague. Following Vaslui's qualification into the group stages, Porumboiu raised each player's wage up to 50%, meaning that Bălace's contract is now up to €180,000 per year.


Career honours

Dinamo București *
Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...
: 2006–07 FC Vaslui *
UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
:
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
ACS Poli Timișoara *
Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently Sponso ...
: 2014–15


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balace, Silviu 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Caracal, Romania Romanian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Liga I players Liga II players FC U Craiova 1948 players AFC Rocar București players CSM Reșița players FC Politehnica Timișoara players FC Dinamo București players FC Vaslui players CS Turnu Severin players ACS Poli Timișoara players Romanian football managers ACS Poli Timișoara managers Footballers from Olt County