Nicolae Pantea
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.jpg) Pantea with UTA Arad in 1966 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 12 February 1946 | ||
| Place of birth | Beliu, Arad County, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1961–1964 | Rapid Arad | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1964–1966 | UTA Arad | 49 | (6) |
| 1966–1975 | Steaua București | 196 | (24) |
| 1975–1977 | Petrolul Ploiești | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 246 | (30) | |
| International career | |||
| 1971 | Romania Olympic | 1 | (0) |
| 1972–1973 | Romania | 2 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1981–1983 | Steaua București (assistant) | ||
| 1984 | UTA Arad | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nicolae Pantea (born 12 February 1946) is a Romanian former footballer and manager.
Pantea was born on 12 February 1946 in Beliu, Arad County, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1961 at Rapid Arad for three years.[1] Subsequently, he went to UTA Arad and made his Divizia A debut on 30 August 1964 under coach Coloman Braun-Bogdan in a 3–0 away loss to Steagul Roșu Brașov.[1][2] He reached with UTA the 1966 Cupa României final where coach Nicolae Dumitrescu used him the entire match in the 4–0 loss to Steaua București.[3] Shortly afterwards, Pantea joined Steaua, a team with whom he won the 1967–68 title in which coach Ștefan Kovács used him in six matches.[1][4] He also won the Cupa României four times, in the years 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971, but played only in the second and the latter of the finals.[1][5] During his time with The Military Men he also made 14 appearances in European competitions.[1] Pantea played six games in 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, as the team reached the quarter-finals by eliminating Hibernians and Barcelona, being eliminated on the away goal rule after 1–1 on aggregate by Bayern Munich.[1][6] Over the years, he also netted two goals in a loss and a victory in the derby against Dinamo București.[7] After nine seasons spent at Steaua, Pantea alongside Florian Dumitrescu and six other players were sent to Divizia B club Petrolul Ploiești in exchange for Constantin Zamfir.[1][8] However, he retired shortly afterwards.[1] Pantea accumulated a total of 249 appearances with 30 goals in Divizia A and 35 matches in which he netted seven times in Cupa României.[1]
International career
Pantea played two games for Romania, making his debut on 23 April 1972 under coach Gheorghe Ola in a 2–2 friendly draw against Peru.[1][9][10] In his second match for the national team, he scored his first and only goal for The Tricolours, which was the fifth goal in the team's biggest ever victory, a 9–0 against Finland in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers.[9][11] In 1971, Pantea also made an appearance for Romania's Olympic team in a 2–1 away victory against Albania.[1]
International goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 October 1973 | August 23 Stadium, Bucharest, Romania |  Finland | 5–0 | 9–0 | 1974 World Cup qualifiers |
Managerial career
Pantea first worked as a coach at Steaua's Center for Children and Juniors, in various age categories, and in parallel, in certain periods he was an assistant at Romania's national youth team.[1] In 1984, he was for a short time head coach at UTA Arad while the team was in Divizia B.[1] From 1985 until 1990, he was the head of Steaua's Center for Children and Juniors, then he worked for the Romanian Football Federation as a deputy general secretary, being responsible for the youth sector.[1] In 2000, he was the head of the Central Commission of Referees for a few months.[1] In 2016, the stadium from Pantea's native commune, Beliu, was renamed after him in his honor.[1]