Basarab Nică Panduru (born 11 July 1970) is a Romanian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, currently television pundit for Orange Sport.

Playing career

Born in

Mârzănești Mârzănești is a communes of Romania, commune in Teleorman County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Cernetu, Mârzănești, Teleormanu, and Valea Părului. Natives *Stan Ghițescu (1881–1952), politician *Florea Voicilă (bo ...

, Romania, Panduru started his professional career with CSM Reşiţa where he played between 1987 and 1990, before being signed by Steaua București at the beginning of 1991. Panduru's first game with Steaua was in the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, when the Steaua's officials did not take into consideration that just prior leaving CSM Reşiţa, Panduru was set to miss the next game due to yellow cards, therefore Steaua București lost that game after a federal decision. As soon as he joined Steaua București he became an important part of the team. In 1995, however he left Romania to play for Benfica. The life in the capital of Portugal was not that easy, and he was loaned to

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

for half a season, before re-joining Benfica at the start of the 1996–97 season. In 1998, he was bought by

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

's rivals from

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

but failed to make an impact. During the summer of 1999, Panduru was close to sign a contract with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian club Internacional Porto Alegre however, the transfer did not materialize. Then Panduru signed for SC Salgueiros on loan from Porto, his third team in Portugal but after only half-a-season and long-term injuries Panduru decided to retire and become coach.

International career

During his career Panduru earned 22 caps for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, scoring one goal, and was in the squad for the 1994 World Cup.

International stats

International goals

Managerial career

Panduru's first coaching agreement was the one with Poli AEK Timișoara, signed in 2002. At

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

he met his former teammate from Steaua București, Anton Doboş, now the team's co-owner. The couple worked well together for a while, but in 2004 Panduru basically sacked himself when he made a bad remark, by saying: "The defenders are not footballers, they are only the ones who help the footballers". What Panduru did not take into consideration was that Anton Doboş, his boss, played as a defender. He signed a new contract, this time with Oţelul Galaţi for the second half of the 2004–05 season without a league game, he left the team to sign with

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

in the summer of 2005, from where he was sacked after only few games. He was then the coach of Farul Constanţa before being sacked by the team owner after poor results. At the end of October 2007 he signed on to manage second league team Progresul București. In September 2009, Panduru was announced the new

Director of Football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

of Steaua București, but on 14 May 2010, he resigned from this position, after a mutual agreement with the club's owner George Becali.

Honours

Club

;Steaua București *

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 1991–92 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

;Benfica *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

runner-up: 1996–97 ;Porto *

Primeira Divisão The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga P ...

: 1998–99 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Panduru, Basarab 1970 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players FCSB players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players S.C. Salgueiros players S.L. Benfica footballers FC Porto players FC Porto B players Men's association football midfielders FCV Farul Constanța managers Footballers from Teleorman County Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Romanian football managers Liga I managers Liga II managers FC Politehnica Timișoara managers FC Vaslui managers FC Progresul București managers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Primeira Liga players Liga I players Liga II players Swiss Super League players 20th-century Romanian sportsmen