Gabriel Iancu
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Gabriel Cristian Iancu (; born 15 April 1994) is a Romanian professional
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 plays as a
forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...
or 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. ...
for
Liga I 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 ...
club Farul Constanța. Iancu began his senior career at Viitorul Constanța in 2011, and at age 18 returned to Steaua București where he was previously a junior. He won six trophies with the latter, but has since had multiple brief spells since leaving the
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
in 2015. On his second stint at Viitorul, Iancu aided to a league title in the 2016–17 season, and on his third netted 18 times to become the top scorer of the
2019–20 Liga I The 2019–20 Liga I (also known as Casa Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 102nd season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs, which began in July 2019 and was scheduled to end in June 2020. Sus ...
. He has competed professionally in three countries apart from his own, namely Turkey, Poland and Russia. Internationally, Iancu represented the Romania national team at several youth levels including the under-21 side, before going on to record his debut for the seniors in 2020.


Club career


Viitorul Constanța

Iancu made his senior debut for
Viitorul Constanța ''Viitorul'' ("The Future") was a daily newspaper published in the Kingdom of Romania, out of Bucharest, as a central organ of the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was formed just months after peasants' revolt of March 1907, being originally li ...
on 1 September 2011, in a 2–0
Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...
home win over Callatis Mangalia. In March 2012, he and his Viitorul teammate
Bogdan Țîru Bogdan Ionuț Țîru (; born 15 March 1994) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga I club Farul Constanța. International career In November 2016 Țîru received his first call-up to the senior Romania squad ...
were on trial at
Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
, and he was also linked with a move to
Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...
. Iancu's first goal also came in a match against Callatis Mangalia, scoring the last of his team in a 5–1 away thrashing on 21 April 2012. By the end of the
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
which ended in promotion to the
Liga I 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 ...
, he totalled five goals in twelve appearances.


Steaua București

Iancu continued his goalscoring run by netting six times from 18 games in the first half of the
2012–13 Liga I The 2012–13 Liga I was the ninety-fifth season of Liga I, the top-level Association football, football league of Romania. The season began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 30 May 2013. CFR Cluj were the defending champions. Since Romania dropped ...
, which inspired a move to his former boyhood club
FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...
in the winter
transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...
. The eventual champions acquired 70% of his economic rights for a rumoured
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
500,000 fee, and his five-year contract included a €25 million
buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in an employment contract. It allows the employee to terminate the contract unilaterally upon payment of a specified (usually substantial) fee to the employer. The fee may be paid by the employ ...
. On 30 July 2013, Iancu scored the goals of a 2–0 away victory over Georgian side
Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...
, facilitating Steaua's progression to the UEFA Champions League play-off round. He played two matches in the
group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
of the latter competition, as Steaua finished last behind Chelsea,
Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...
and
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, respectively.


Loan to Karabükspor

Iancu did not impose himself at the
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
-based club and in the 2015–16 campaign was sent out on loan to Karabükspor in Turkey, where he only scored once in four games.


Return to Viitorul Constanța

In the summer of 2016, Iancu rejoined Viitorul Constanța as a
free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...
. On 13 May 2017, he converted a
penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...
in a 1–0 defeat of
CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...
, which earned Viitorul its first national title.


Termalica Nieciecza

In September 2017, Iancu joined Polish club Termalica Nieciecza on a two-year deal. Two weeks later, he made his
Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...
debut by coming on as a substitute and scoring the winner in a 2–1 victory against
Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...
.


Return to Romania

Iancu returned to Romania for the 2018–19 season, playing in quick succession for
Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...
and
Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See a ...
before being once again re-signed by Viitorul Constanța in June 2019. He managed to become top scorer of the
2019–20 Liga I The 2019–20 Liga I (also known as Casa Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 102nd season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs, which began in July 2019 and was scheduled to end in June 2020. Sus ...
by netting 18 goals from 28 appearances.


Akhmat Grozny

Iancu earned a €500,000 transfer to
Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat (; ), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, and formerly as Terek Grozny from 1958 to 2017, is a Russian professional football club based in Grozny that plays in the Russian Premier League. History The club was foun ...
on 13 January 2021, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the
Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...
club.


Various loans

On 3 February 2022, Iancu returned for a third time to Viitorul, now renamed Farul Constanța, on loan for the remainder of the
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
. On 20 July 2022, Iancu signed for
FC U Craiova FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...
after his loan at Farul expired. On 13 February 2023, Iancu joined
Hermannstadt Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the ...
until the end of the 2022–23 season.


Hermannstadt

On 10 June 2023, Iancu returned to Hermannstadt on a permanent basis and signed a two-year contract.


International career

On 7 September 2020, Iancu made his debut for the Romania national team by coming on for injured
Ciprian Deac Ciprian Ioan Deac (; born 16 February 1986) is a Romanian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger or an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder for Liga I club CFR Cluj. After starting ...
in the 40th minute of a 3–2 away win over
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
in the
UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...
.


Personal life

Iancu has been married since 2019, with the couple having one son who was born the following year.


Career statistics


Club


International


Honours

Steaua București *
Liga I 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 ...
:
2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
, 2013–14, 2014–15 *
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 ...
: 2014–15; runner-up: 2013–14 *
Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...
: 2014–15 *
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 ...
:
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
Viitorul Constanța *Liga I: 2016–17 *Supercupa României:
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
Individual *Liga I top scorer: 2019–20 *Liga I Team of the Season: 2019–20


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iancu, Gabriel 1994 births Footballers from Bucharest Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players FCSB players FC Voluntari players FC Dunărea Călărași players TFF 1. Lig players Kardemir Karabükspor footballers Ekstraklasa players Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza players Russian Premier League players FC Akhmat Grozny players FCV Farul Constanța players FC U Craiova 1948 players FC Hermannstadt players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia 21st-century Romanian sportsmen