Ioan Sabău

Ioan "Neluțu" Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. He played as a midfielder for clubs in Romania, Italy, and the Netherlands, including Universitatea Cluj, Dinamo București, Feyenoord, Brescia, and Rapid București.

Sabău earned 55 caps for the Romania national team, representing his country at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1996. After retiring from playing, he managed several Romanian clubs, including Gaz Metan Mediaș, Poli Timișoara, and Universitatea Cluj, whom he coached to the Romanian Cup final in the 2022–23 season, which they lost in a penalty shootout.

Club career Universitatea Cluj and ASA Târgu Mureș Sabău, nicknamed Moțul due to his ambition, a trait associated with the people from Țara Moților, was born on 12 February 1968 in Câmpia Turzii, Romania. He began playing junior-level football in 1985 at Universitatea Cluj, under the guidance of coaches Alexa Uifăleanu and Nicolae Szoboszlay. In the following season, he made his debut in the Romanian top-league on 8 March 1986, replacing Nicolae Bucur for the last nine minutes of a 1–0 loss to Rapid București, also under coach Remus Vlad. In 1988, Sabău had offers from Dinamo București and Steaua București, choosing to play for the first because of coach Mircea Lucescu's project of building a team composed of mainly young players like himself. But Steaua's officials with president Ion Alecsandrescu and the relatives of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, 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 in which he played for Ministry of National Defence club and friend team of Steaua, ASA Târgu Mureș. In the following season, the club won The Double, as Lucescu gave him 24 league appearances in which he scored five goals, and also scored one goal in the 6–4 victory in the Cupa României final against Steaua. In the same season, Sabău played seven matches and scored two goals against Panathinaikos in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup where Dinamo reached the semi-finals, being eliminated after a 2–0 aggregate loss to Anderlecht.

Feyenoord After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Sabău was signed by Dutch club Feyenoord which paid for his transfer over $1 million. He made his Eredivise debut on 1 September 1990 under coach Gunder Bengtsson in a 6–0 home win over MVV Maastricht in which he scored once. In his first season, he won the 1990–91 KNVB Cup, coach Wim Jansen using him the entire match in the 1–0 victory against BVV Den Bosch in the final. In the following season, he was teammates with compatriot Marian Damaschin.

Brescia and Reggiana In 1992 he was sold for over €1 million by Feyenoord to Mircea Lucescu's "Brescia Romena", as he was teammates there with fellow Romanians Gheorghe Hagi, Florin Răducioiu, Dorin Mateuț and Dănuț Lupu. He made his Serie A debut on 5 September 1992 in a 0–0 draw against Napoli, three months later scoring his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Atalanta. At the end of his first season, the team was relegated to Serie B, but Sabău was named the best Serie A right midfielder. Subsequently, he returned to Brescia where on 16 May 1998 he made his last Serie A appearance in a 3–1 away victory against Parma, totaling 70 matches with six goals in the competition.

Rapid, "U" Cluj and Mediaș Sabău returned to Romania in 1998 at Rapid București, on the advice of coach Mircea Lucescu. He appeared in 22 matches in which he scored one goal in the 1998–99 season, helping the team win its first title after 32 years. However, he departed from the club shortly thereafter due to disagreements with club officials. He started the next season by winning the 2002 Supercupa României, with coach Rednic using him the full 90 minutes in another 2–1 win over Dinamo. They finished the 2002–03 season as champions, Sabău scoring once in the 16 matches Rednic played him.

International career Sabău played 55 games and scored eight goals for Romania, 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. He scored his first goal three days later in a 2–2 friendly draw against Poland. Sabău played seven games and scored one goal in the Euro 1992 qualifiers, and then made eight appearances during the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers, but could not be part of the final tournament squad due to an injury. He played one game in the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers.

Sabău played three games during the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers, but was not selected in the squad for the final tournament.

Managerial career Sabău started his coaching career in 2000 at Universitatea Cluj in Divizia C, also being a player, helping the team gain promotion to Divizia B. He went to coach fellow Divizia B 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 highlight of this period being a sixth-place finish in the 2006–07 season.

In the 2009–10 season, Sabău coached Politehnica Timișoara, eliminating UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk in the third round of the Champions League, which was the team of his former coach, Mircea Lucescu. Domestically, he helped Politehnica finish the championship in fifth place.

In January 2023, after almost 10 years of inactivity, Sabău came back to coaching, signing with Universitatea Cluj. The team reached the 2023 Cupa României final where they were defeated by Sepsi OSK. He left the club after saving the team from relegation at the end of the season. However, he came back to "U" in August 2023. In the 2024–25 season, he helped the club finish in fourth place. Subsequently, the club played in the second round of the 2025–26 Conference League, being eliminated with 2–1 on aggregate by Ararat-Armenia. In October 2025, Sabău resigned, leaving "U" after the team's 10th-place standing following the first 13 rounds of the 2025–26 season.

Personal life Sabău is featured on the main cover of FIFA 96, shown being tackled by Andy Legg during the Anglo-Italian Cup final, while playing for Brescia against Notts County, and is the first Romanian to appear on the cover of a FIFA video game. He is a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titled Ioan Ovidiu Sabău și Patima fotbalului (Ioan Ovidiu Sabău and the passion for football), which was released in 2002.

Playing statistics

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

+ List of international goals scored by Ioan Sabău Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 6 February 1988 Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, Haifa, Israel 2–1 2–2 Friendly 2 2 November 1988 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania 3–0 3–0 1990 World Cup qualifiers 3 29 March 1989 Municipal Stadium, Sibiu, Romania 1–0 1–0 Friendly 4 12 April 1989 Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland 1–1 1–2 Friendly 5 15 November 1989 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania 2–1 3–1 1990 World Cup qualifiers 6 25 April 1990 Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, Haifa, Israel 3–0 4–1 Friendly 7 5 December 1990 Stadionul Național, Bucharest, Romania 1–0 6–0 Euro 1992 qualifiers 8 15 February 1995 İzmir Atatürk Stadium, İzmir, Turkey 1–0 1–1 Friendly

Honours Player Universitatea Cluj Divizia B: 1984–85 Divizia C: 2000–01

Dinamo București Divizia A: 1989–90 Cupa României: 1989–90

Feyenoord KNVB Cup: 1990–91, 1991–92 Johan Cruijff Shield: 1991

Brescia Anglo-Italian Cup: 1993–94

Rapid București Divizia A: 1998–99, 2002–03 Cupa României] 2001–02 Supercupa României: 1999, 2002

Individual Romanian Footballer of the Year: runner-up 1989; fifth place 1988, 1993

Manager Universitatea Cluj Divizia C: 2000–01 Cupa României runner-up: 2022–23

Gloria Bistrița Intertoto Cup runner-up: 2007

Individual Romania Coach of the Month: October 2023, September 2024