Adrian Pigulea

Adrian Pigulea (born 12 May 1968) is a Romanian former football striker.

Club career Pigulea was born on 12 May 1968 in Strehaia, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Armătura. He started to play senior football in 1987 at Divizia B club Electromureș Târgu-Mureș. Pigulea helped the club win The Double in the 1990–91 season under the guidance of coach Sorin Cârțu, contributing with 12 goals scored in 31 league appearances, being the team's third top-scorer, with one goal behind Gheorghe Ciurea and Emil Săndoi. He also played as a starter until the 87th minute when he was replaced with Gheorghe Craioveanu in the 2–1 win over FC Bacău in the Cupa României final.

In 1992, Pigulea played one season in the Cypriot First Division for Aris Limassol, his only experience outside Romania. In 1995 he joined Național București where in the first two seasons he was again runner-up in the league. Under Halagian, he also represented The Bankers in all six games in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup edition, eliminating Partizan Belgrade and Chornomorets Odesa in the first rounds, the campaign ending after a 3–1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge. Across his career, Pigulea made a total of 27 appearances with seven goals scored in European competitions (including six games with three goals in the Intertoto Cup), managing to score a hat-trick for Național against Cwmbran Town in a 7–0 win in the 1997–98 Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round. The 2000–01 season spent with Național was the last of Pigulea's career, totaling 257 Divizia A matches with 40 goals.

Pigulea played a single match for Romania on 28 August 1991, when coach Mircea Rădulescu sent him in the 60th minute to replace Ion Timofte in a 2–0 friendly loss to USA.

Personal life Pigulea married Clara, the daughter of former Universitatea Craiova striker Ion Oblemenco.

Honours Universitatea Craiova Divizia A: 1990–91, runner-up 1993–94, 1994–95 Cupa României: 1990–91, runner-up 1993–94 Național București Divizia A runner-up: 1995–96, 1996–97 Cupa României runner-up: 1996–97 Romania B Nehru Cup: 1991