Radu Sabo

Radu Sabo (born 13 September 1971) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Playing career Universitatea Cluj Sabo was born on 13 September 1971 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and began playing junior-level football at local club Universitatea. On 14 December 1988, coach Remus Vlad gave him his Divizia A debut in Universitatea's 5–2 away loss to Victoria București in which he scored once. In the following four seasons he would appear regularly for the team, scoring a personal record of 12 goals in the 1995–96 season. He played four games in the 1996–97 Cup Winners' Cup, helping them eliminate Valletta in the qualifying round, being eliminated with 2–1 on aggregate by Gabriel Batistuta's Fiorentina in the first round. In the middle of the 1997–98 season, he left Gloria to join Divizia B club Baia Mare for half a year. He made his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut on 1 August 1998 when coach András Herczeg sent him in the 69th minute to replace Gábor Bagoly in a 0–0 draw against Diósgyőr. In the following season he scored a brace in a 2–1 victory against VfL Wolfsburg in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup first round, but the qualification was lost as they were defeated with 2–0 in the first leg.

Zalaegerszeg In 2000, Sabo was transferred to Zalaegerszeg. He scored his first goal for the team on 29 September in a 1–1 draw against Videoton, netting nine goals in his first season, including three doubles in three wins against Videoton, Tatabánya and Vasas which helped the club avoid relegation. In the following season, coach Péter Bozsik gave him 29 appearances in which he scored four goals. Afterwards he played in the 2002–03 Champions League qualifying rounds, appearing in both legs as Zalaegerszeg eliminated NK Zagreb, the team being defeated with 5–1 on aggregate in the following round by Manchester United, but without Sabo playing. Subsequently, the club played in the UEFA Cup first round where he appeared in both legs, scoring one goal in the eventual 9–1 loss on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb. He also netted a hat-trick in a 3–3 draw against Újpest in the league championship. In the following season he scored two goals in two losses to FC Vaslui and Dinamo București, having netted a total of 51 in his 218 matches in the Romanian first league. His final appearance in the competition was in the last game of the season, a 1–0 loss in the Cluj derby against CFR after which the latter won the title and his side was relegated back to the second division. Shortly afterwards he became a player-coach at Sănătatea Cluj where he played in the Romanian lower leagues until 2010.

Coaching career Sabo started coaching in 2008 when he was a player-coach at Sănătatea Cluj with whom he finished the season in 10th place in the Romanian third league. In October 2009 he was appointed as Cristian Dulca's assistant at Universitatea Cluj where he stayed for two months, returning in 2010 as player-coach at Sănătatea.

Honours Universitatea Cluj Liga II: 1991–92, 2006–07 Debrecen Magyar Kupa: 1998–99 Zalaegerszeg Nemzeti Bajnokság I: 2001–02