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Radu Sabo (born 13 September 1971) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a midfielder.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 13 September 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Cluj-Napoca, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Universitatea Cluj | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1996 | Universitatea Cluj | 186 | (36) |
| 1996–1997 | Gloria Bistrița | 37 | (13) |
| 1997–1998 | Baia Mare | 11 | (1) |
| 1998–2000 | Debrecen | 50 | (15) |
| 2000–2005 | Zalaegerszeg | 136 | (32) |
| 2005–2008 | Universitatea Cluj | 44 | (12) |
| 2008–2009 | Sănătatea Cluj | ||
| 2010 | Sănătatea Cluj | ||
| Total | 464 | (109) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2008–2009 | Sănătatea Cluj | ||
| 2009 | Universitatea Cluj (assistant) | ||
| 2010 | Sănătatea Cluj | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Universitatea Cluj
Radu Sabo was born on 13 September 1971 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club, Universitatea.[1][2] On 14 December 1988, coach Remus Vlad gave him his Divizia A debut in Universitatea's 5–2 away loss in front of Victoria București in which he scored once.[1][2] In 1991, the team relegated to Divizia B but Sabo stayed with the club, scoring five goals in the 25 appearances given to him by coach Ioan Sdrobiș, helping the club promote back to the first league after one year.[1][3] In the following four seasons he would appear constantly for the team, scoring a personal record of 12 goals in the 1995–96 season.[1][2]
Gloria Bistrița and Baia Mare
In 1996, Sabo was transferred to Gloria Bistrița where he worked once again with Remus Vlad, playing 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.[1][4][5] In the middle of the 1997–98 season, he left Gloria to go play for half of year in Divizia B at Baia Mare.[1]
Debrecen
In 1998, he went abroad to Hungarian side, Debrecen where he was teammate with fellow Romanian Nicolae Ilea, making his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut on 1 August 1998 when coach András Herczeg sent him on the field in the 69th minute in order to replace Gábor Bagoly in a 0–0 with Diósgyőr.[1][6][7][8][9] On 14 November he scored his first goal in the league in a 2–1 away win over MTK Budapest, then also scoring in the following round in a 4–0 with Gázszer in which he also received a red card.[6] In his first game after his suspension he scored a brace against Diósgyőr, then in April 1999 he scored a hat-trick in a 6–1 over Ferencváros.[6] At the end of the season, Sabo won the first trophy of his career when coach Lajos Garamvölgyi used him as a starter in the 2–1 win over Tatabánya from the 1998–99 Magyar Kupa final.[10] In the following season he scored a brace in a 2–1 win over VfL Wolfsburg from the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup first round but the qualification was lost as they were defeated with 2–0 in the first leg.[1][6][11]
Zalaegerszeg
In 2000, Sabo was transferred to Zalaegerszeg, a team for which he scored his first goal on 29 September in a 1–1 with Videoton, scoring nine goals in his first season, including three doubles in three wins against Videoton, Tatabánya and Vasas which helped the club avoid relegation.[1][6][12] In the following season, coach Péter Bozsik gave him 29 appearances in which he scored four goals, including one in a 1–1 with Ferencváros which helped the team earn the point that mathematically granted them the title.[1][6][13] Afterwards he played in the 2002–03 Champions League qualifying rounds, appearing in both legs as Zalaegerszeg eliminated NK Zagreb, the team being eliminated with 5–1 on aggregate in the following round by Manchester United but without Sabo playing.[1][6][14][15] Afterwards the team played in the UEFA Cup first round where he played in both legs, scoring one goal in the eventual 9–1 loss on aggregate in front of Dinamo Zagreb, he also scored a hat-trick in a 3–3 with Újpest from the league championship.[1][6][16] Sabo played three more seasons at Zalaegerszeg, gaining a total of 186 Nemzeti Bajnokság I matches with 47 goals scored.[1]
Return to Universitatea Cluj
After eight seasons played in Hungary, Radu Sabo turned back to his first team, Universitatea Cluj which was playing in the second league, being the team's top-goalscorer during the 2006–07 season, as they earned promotion to the first league under the guidance of coach Adrian Falub.[1][2][17] In the following season he scored two goals in two losses in front of FC Vaslui and Dinamo București, scoring a total of 51 in his 218 matches played in the Romanian first league, making his final appearance in the competition during the last game of the season, a 1–0 loss in the Cluj derby with CFR after which the latter won the title and his side relegated back to the second division.[1][18][19][20] Shortly afterwards he became a player-coach at Sănătatea Cluj where he played in the Romanian lower leagues until 2010.[1][2][21]
Radu Sabo started coaching in 2008 when he was a player-coach at Sănătatea Cluj with whom he finished the season on the 10th place in the Romanian third league.[22][23] In October 2010 he was appointed as Cristian Dulca's assistant at Universitatea Cluj where he stayed for only two months, returning in 2010 as player-coach at Sănătatea.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
Universitatea Cluj
Debrecen
Zalaegerszeg
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