Paul Cazan

Paul Cazan (born 30 September 1951 in Bucharest) is a Romanian former football player and former coach who mostly played and coached for Sportul Studențesc of Bucharest.

Club career Cazan, nicknamed "Ață" (Yarn), was born on 30 September 1951 in Bucharest, Romania and first played basketball, before starting football at junior level in 1967 at "23 August" București, moving in 1970 to TUG București. He began his senior football career in the 1970–71 Divizia C season at TM București. Subsequently, he moved to Steaua București for half a season without playing, before transferring to Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea in Divizia B, where he played eight games and contributed to avoiding relegation. He stayed with Sportul until the end of his career, spanning 16 Divizia A seasons in which he made a club record of 465 appearances of which 444 as a starter, scoring 10 goals. He made a strong partnership in the central defense with Gino Iorgulescu, serving for many years as captain of a team that included players such as Gheorghe Hagi, Mircea Sandu, Marcel Coraș and Aurel Rădulescu. He represented the club in 13 UEFA Cup matches, including a 1–0 victory against Inter Milan, and also helped them win the 1979–80 Balkans Cup and reach the final in the 1976 edition. In the 1987–88 UEFA Cup campaign, Cazan started as a player, appearing in the 1–0 victory in the first round against GKS Katowice which helped the team advance to the second round. There, as the team's head coach, he faced Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup's Brøndby, winning the second leg 3–0 after an away loss by the same score, securing a historic penalty shootout qualification to the third round where they were defeated by Hellas Verona.

International career He won the Universiade gold medal with Romania's students football team in the 1974 edition that was held in France, playing alongside László Bölöni, Gheorghe Mulțescu, Dan Păltinișanu and Romulus Chihaia. Even though he played for Romania's under-23 and Olympic team, Cazan never played for Romania's senior team. On 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him on a list of best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.

Honours Sportul Studențesc Balkans Cup: 1979–80, runner-up 1976 Divizia A runner-up: 1985–86 Cupa României runner-up: 1978–79