title: Daniel Pancu
text: Daniel Gabriel Pancu (; born 17 August 1977) is a Romanian football coach and a former player who played mainly as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is the manager of the Romania national under-20 team
  
  Club career
  Pancu began his playing career at FC Politehnica Iași. He made his debut in the Romanian First Division 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 matchday 28 of the 2004/05 season, during the derby 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 Kadiköy) and the following season dressed in a regular goalkeeper's jersey with the number "1".
  
  Managerial career
  
  On 2 October 2018, Daniel Pancu was appointed as Rapid’s new manager. He obtained the promotion from Liga 3 to Liga 2 after losing only 1 game. In 2020, he was named President of Rapid București.
  
  International career
  He gained his first cap for the Romania national team in 1995, and captained his country on several occasions. He played a total of 27 games and scored 9 goals.
  
  International stats
  
  Honours
  
  Club
  
  Player
  Rapid București
  Divizia A: 1998–99
  Cupa României: 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06
  Supercupa României: 1999, 2002
  
  Beşiktaş
  Süper Lig: 2002–03
  Turkish Cup: 2005–06
  
  Coach
  Rapid București
  Liga III: 2018–19
  
  References
  
  External links
  
  1977 births
  Living people
  Romanian men's footballers
  Romanian expatriate men's footballers
  Romania men's international footballers
  FC Politehnica Iași (1945) players
  FC Rapid București players
  AC Cesena players
  Beşiktaş J.K. footballers
  Bursaspor footballers
  FC Akhmat Grozny players
  PFC CSKA Sofia players
  CS Sporting Vaslui players
  FC Voluntari players
  Liga I players
  Serie B players
  Süper Lig players
  Russian Premier League players
  First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
  Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
  Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
  Expatriate men's footballers in Russia
  Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria
  Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria
  Men's association football midfielders
  Men's association football forwards
  Romanian football managers
  FC Rapid București managers
  FC Politehnica Iași (2010) managers
  FC Rapid București presidents
  Footballers from Iași