Marian Savu
Romanian footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marian Savu (born 11 October 1972) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Playing for clubs in four countries, he notably became the 1999–2000 Divizia A top goalscorer.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 October 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Pietroșani, Teleorman, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1990 | Flacăra Moreni | 0 | (0) |
| 1990–1995 | Dinamo București | 54 | (19) |
| 1991–1992 | → Flacăra Moreni (loan) | ||
| 1994 | → FC Brașov (loan) | 12 | (2) |
| 1996 | Rapid București | 15 | (1) |
| 1996–2000 | Național București | 98 | (47) |
| 1998 | → Sportul Studențesc (loan) | 17 | (3) |
| 2000–2001 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 8 | (3) |
| 2000–2001 | → Shakhtar-2 Donetsk | 4 | (1) |
| 2001 | Metalurh Donetsk | 5 | (0) |
| 2002 | Național București | 11 | (3) |
| 2002–2003 | AEL Limassol | 25 | (7) |
| 2003–2004 | Videoton FC Fehérvár | 23 | (3) |
| 2004–2006 | Național București | 16 | (2) |
| 2006–2007 | Petrolul Ploiești | 3 | (0) |
| Total | 232 | (78) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992–1993 | Romania U21 | 12 | (2) |
| 2000 | Romania B | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
Savu was born on 11 October 1972 in Pietroșani, Teleorman, Romania.[1] He began playing football in 1989 at Flacăra Moreni.[1] Subsequently, Savu joined Dinamo București where he made his Divizia A debut on 28 October 1990, when coach Gheorghe Mulțescu sent him in the 61st minute to replace Marian Damaschin in a 0–0 draw against Progresul Brăila.[1][2] In 1991, he returned to Flacăra Moreni in Divizia B, playing there for eighteen months.[1] Afterwards, he came back to Dinamo, scoring his first Divizia A goal on 9 June 1993 in a 6–0 win over CSM Reșița.[1][3] He made his debut in European competitions in a 3–2 victory against Cagliari in the 1993–94 UEFA Cup.[1][4] In the same season, Savu was Dinamo's top scorer, netting 12 league goals to help the team to a runner-up position.[1][5][6] However, despite this performance, he was loaned to FC Brașov for the first half of the 1994–95 season.[1][5] Then he returned to Dinamo, only to leave again in the middle of the 1995–96 season to join Rapid București.[1]
In 1996, Savu went to play for Național București.[1] He helped them eliminate Partizan Belgrade and Chornomorets Odesa in the first rounds of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup, the campaign ending after a 3–1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge.[1][7] The team also reached the 1997 Cupa României final, but coach Florin Halagian did not play him in the 4–2 loss to Steaua București.[8] In the middle of the 1997–98 season, he joined Sportul Studențesc but was unable to help them avoid relegation.[1][9] Afterwards, Savu returned to Național, where he scored 39 league goals over the course of two seasons.[1] Notably, during the 1999–2000 season, Savu formed an offensive partnership with Marius Lăcătuș under coach Mihai Stoichiță and netted a career-best 20 goals to become the league's top scorer.[1][5][10][11]
In 2000, Savu moved to the Vyshcha Liha to play for Shakhtar Donetsk, where he became teammates with Marian Aliuță.[1][5][12] During this spell, he featured in a 3–0 victory against Arsenal in the first group stage of the 2000–01 Champions League.[1][12][13] Midway through the 2000–01 season, he transferred to Metalurh Donetsk.[1] He subsequently returned to Național for the 2001–02 season, before spending a year at AEL Limassol, where he scored seven goals in the Cypriot First Division.[1] In 2003, he moved to Hungary, signing with Videoton FC Fehérvár, where he was teammates with fellow Romanians Gabriel Vochin, Daniel Tudor and Ion Voicu.[14] On 2 August, he made his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut, when coach János Csank sent him in the 52nd minute to replace Tomáš Medveď in a 2–2 draw against Ferencváros.[15][16] Savu played 23 matches by the end of the 2003–04 season, scoring three goals across the two victories against Győr.[15] He returned to Național for a third spell in 2004.[1] The team reached the 2006 Cupa României final, but coach Cristiano Bergodi did not use him in the 1–0 loss to Rapid București.[17]
Savu made his last Divizia A appearance on 11 April 2006 in Național's 2–0 loss to Jiul Petroșani, totaling 223 matches with 77 goals in the competition and 18 games with two goals in European competitions (including six appearances with one goal in the Intertoto Cup).[1][5] He ended his career after playing three matches in the Liga II for Petrolul Ploiești during the 2006–07 season.[1]
International career
From 1992 to 1993, Savu played 12 matches and scored two goals for Romania's under-21 national team.[18] On 19 May 2000, he played for Romania B in a 2–2 draw against Honduras.[18]
