Daniel Pancu

Daniel Gabriel Pancu (Romanian pronunciation: [daniˈel gabriˈel ˈpaŋku]; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian football coach and a former player who played mainly as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is the manager of the Romania national under-20 team

Daniel Pancu
Pancu in 2011
Personal information
Full name Daniel Gabriel Pancu
Date of birth (1977-08-17) 17 August 1977
Place of birth Iași, Romania
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)
Attacking midfielder / Forward
Team information
Current team
 Romania U20 (manager)
Youth career
1986–1994 Politehnica Iași
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1996 Politehnica Iași 55 (4)
1997–1999 Rapid București 77 (23)
1999–2000 Cesena 36 (3)
2000–2002 Rapid București 45 (28)
2002–2006 Beşiktaş 80 (16)
2006 → Rapid București (loan) 13 (2)
2006–2007 Bursaspor 32 (3)
2008 Rapid București 8 (2)
2008–2009 Terek Grozny 33 (10)
2010 CSKA Sofia 7 (2)
2010 Vaslui 5 (0)
2011–2015 Rapid București 96 (21)
2015–2016 Voluntari 24 (5)
2017–2018 Rapid București 23 (18)
Total 534 (137)
International career
1994 Romania U-16 4 (0)
1995 Romania U-18 2 (0)
1996–1997 Romania U-21 8 (2)
2001–2005 Romania 27 (9)
Managerial career
2017 Voluntari (assistant)
2018–2020 Rapid București
2020–2021 Politehnica Iași
2022– Romania U20
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Pancu began his playing career at FC Politehnica Iași. He made his debut in the Romanian First Division in 1995. In the winter of 1996 he was transferred to Rapid București for the sum of US$200,000. He was, at that time, the most expensive player who has left from Iași. After two and a half seasons, he moved to A.C. Cesena, in the Italian Serie B, for a transfer fee of US$1,200,000. After a year, Cesena was relegated from the Serie B and Pancu returned to Rapid for a transfer fee of US$800,000, where he stayed for two seasons. During this tenure he gained the nickname "Ronaldo of Giulești".

In 2002, he was bought by Beşiktaş, at the request of the manager that discovered him, Mircea Lucescu, for a fee of US$2,250,000.[1] It was at Beşiktaş where Lucescu turned him from striker into central midfielder with amazing results. In the winter of 2005/2006 he returned to Rapid, as a loan with the possibility of becoming a permanent transfer in the summer. Then he was bought by Bursaspor, but he returned to Rapid in the spring of 2008 and score one goal in first match for Rapid in 2008. In July 2008 he moved to FC Terek Grozny and left the club on 30 November 2009.[2]

On 11 December 2009, it was announced in the Bulgarian media that CSKA Sofia are having an interest of signing the midfielder to the club. On 12 January 2010, CSKA signed Pancu to a one-a-half-year deal.[3] Pancu made his official debut for CSKA Sofia in the 3–2 win against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Sofia, scoring his first goal for the club.

After a short spell in Bulgaria at CSKA Sofia, Pancu returned to Romanian football later in 2010 to play for FC Vaslui, but had a difficult time breaking into the first eleven with strong competition from Wesley and Mike Temwanjera. During the summer mercato of 2011 he re-signed for his heart club, Rapid București.

Curiosity

On matchday 28 of the 2004/05 season, at the derby against Fenerbahçe Istanbul, when the score was 2–3, Pancu replaced Óscar Córdoba, after the goalkeeper received a red card and the substitution contingent of Beşiktaş was already exhausted. After penalty goal of Fenerbahce, Pancu resisted the goal efforts of the Fenerbahçe-players and Beşiktaş-player Koray scored the fourth goal for Beşiktaş in the fifth minute of the added time. Beşiktaş won the away game at the Kadiköy Stadium of Fenerbahçe and it was sensational. Pancu was given the nickname "Kadıköy Panteri" (panther of Kadiköy) and dressed in the following season as a regular goalkeeper's jersey with number "1".

Managerial career

On 2 October 2018, Daniel Pancu was appointed as Rapid’s new manager. He obtained the promotion from Liga 3 to Liga 2 after losing only 1 game. In 2020, he was named President of Rapid București.[4]

International career

He gained his first cap for the Romania national team in 1995, he even became captain for a few matches. He played a total of 27 games and scored 9 goals.

International stats
Romania national team
YearAppsGoals
200130
200262
200392
200454
200541
Total279

Honours

Player

Rapid București

Beşiktaş

Coach

Rapid București

References
  1. "DANIEL GABRIEL PANCU". TFF. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
  2. "Терек" расстался с шестью легионерами.
  3. "Панку официално е играч на ЦСКА" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  4. Constanttin Schumacher a fost inlocuit de Daniel Pancu. fcrapid.ro (in Romanian)
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