Daniel Pancu

Daniel Gabriel Pancu (; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player who played mainly as a forward or an attacking midfielder.

Club career

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

In 2002, he was bought by Beşiktaş, at the request of the manager who discovered him, Mircea Lucescu, for a fee of US$2,250,000. It was at Beşiktaş that Lucescu turned Pancu from striker into central midfielder with impressive results. In the winter of 2005/2006, he returned to Rapid on loan with the possibility of becoming a permanent transfer in the summer. He was then bought by Bursaspor, but returned to Rapid again in the spring of 2008, scoring on his first appearance. In July 2008 he moved to FC Terek Grozny and left the club on 30 November 2009.

On 11 December 2009, it was announced in the Bulgarian media that CSKA Sofia had an interest in signing the midfielder. On 12 January 2010, CSKA signed Pancu on a one-a-half-year deal. Pancu made his official debut for CSKA Sofia in the 3–2 win against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Sofia, again scoring on his debut.

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 transfer window of 2011 he re-signed yet again for Rapid București.

Curiosity

On the 28th gameweek of the 2004/05 Süper Lig season, during a derby match against Fenerbahçe, with the score at 2–3, Pancu replaced Óscar Córdoba, after the goalkeeper received a red card and Beşiktaş had already used all their substitutes. After conceding a penalty, Pancu kept Fenerbahçe at bay until Koray scored the fourth goal for Beşiktaş in the fifth minute of added time. Beşiktaş thus sealed a sensational away win over their rivals at Kadiköy Stadium. Pancu was given the nickname "Kadıköy Panteri" (the panther of Kadıköy) and dressed in a regular goalkeeper's jersey with the number "1" the following season. He later stated that he felt uncomfortable being labelled as a goalkeeper, as his native playing position was a forward.

Managerial career

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

Career statistics

International stats

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	2001	3	0
	2002	6	2
	2003	9	2
	2004	5	4
	2005	4	1
Total		27	9

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pancu goal.

List of international goals scored by Daniel Pancu

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 March 2002	Stadionul Gheorghe Hagi, Constanța, Romania	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Ukraine	flag alias = Flag of Ukraine.svg	flag alias-1918 = Flag of Ukrainian People's Republic 1917.svg	flag alias-1991 = Flag of Ukraine (1991–1992).svg	flag alias-1991b = Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1949–1991).svg	flag alias-army = Ensign of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.svg	flag alias-military = Ensign of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.svg	link alias-military = Armed Forces of Ukraine	flag alias-marines = Flag of the Ukrainian Naval Infantry.svg	link alias-marines = Ukrainian Marine Corps	link alias-army = Ukrainian Ground Forces	flag alias-coast guard = Sea Guard Ensign of Ukraine (dress).svg	link alias-coast guard = Ukrainian Sea Guard	flag alias-naval = Naval Ensign of Ukraine.svg	flag alias-naval-1918 = Naval Ensign of Ukraine 1918 July.svg	link alias-naval = Ukrainian Navy	flag alias-air force = Ensign of the Ukrainian Air Force.svg	link alias-air force = Ukrainian Air Force	flag alias-navy = Naval Ensign of Ukraine.svg	link alias-navy = Ukrainian Navy	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || align="center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" align="center"|4–1 || rowspan="2"|Friendly
2				3–0
3	6 September 2003	Stadionul Astra, Ploiești, Romania	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Luxembourg	flag alias = Flag of Luxembourg.svg	flag alias-civil = Civil Ensign of Luxembourg.svg	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || align="center"|2–0 || align="center"|4–0 || UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
4	10 September 2003	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Denmark	flag alias = Flag of Denmark.svg	flag alias-state = Flag of Denmark (state).svg	border-state =	flag alias-naval = Naval Ensign of Denmark.svg	link alias-naval = Royal Danish Navy	link alias-army = Royal Danish Army	flag alias-army = Flag of Denmark (state).svg	link alias-air force = Royal Danish Air Force	flag alias-air force = Flag of Denmark (state).svg	flag alias-navy = Naval Ensign of Denmark.svg	link alias-navy = Royal Danish Navy	border-army =	border-air force =	border-naval =	border-navy =	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || align="center"|2–1 || align="center"|2–2 || UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
5	31 March 2004	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Scotland	flag alias = Flag of Scotland.svg	flag alias-1542 = Flag of Scotland (traditional).svg	link alias-football = Scotland men's national football team	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || align="center"|2–0 || align="center"|2–1 || Friendly
6	4 September 2004	Stadionul Ion Oblemenco, Craiova, Romania	REDIRECT Template:Country data North Macedonia || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|2–1 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	8 September 2004	Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Andorra	flag alias = Flag of Andorra.svg	flag alias-1806 = Flag of Andorra (1806–1866).svg	flag alias-1866 = Flag of Andorra (1866–1934).gif	flag alias-1934 = Flag of Andorra (1934–1939).svg	flag alias-civil = Flag of Andorra (civil).svg	var2 = 1866	var3 = 1934	var4 = civil	size =	name =	variant =	altlink = national football team }} || align="center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" align="center"|5–1 || rowspan="2"|2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
8				5–1
9	9 February 2005	GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	{{ Template:Yesno	alias = Slovakia	flag alias = Flag of Slovakia.svg	flag alias-1939 = Flag of Slovakia (1939–1945).svg	flag alias-1990 = Flag of Slovakia (1939–1945).svg	Slovak Ground Forces	size =	name =	altlink = national football team	variant = }} || align="center"|1–1 || align="center"|2–2 || Friendly

Honours

Player

Rapid București

• Divizia A: 1998–99
• Cupa României: 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06
• Supercupa României runner-up: 1998
• Liga IV – Bucharest: 2017–18

Beşiktaş

• Süper Lig: 2002–03

Coach

Rapid București

• Liga III: 2018–19

External links

• Template:Soccerway
• Template:NFT player