Marian Savu

Marian Savu
Personal information
Date of birth (1972-10-11) 11 October 1972
Place of birth Pietroșani, Teleorman, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Flacăra Moreni 0 (0)
1990–1995 Dinamo București 54 (19)
1991–1992 → Flacăra Moreni (loan)
1994 → FC Brașov (loan) 12 (2)
1996 Rapid București 15 (1)
1996–2000 Național București 98 (47)
1998 → Sportul Studențesc (loan) 17 (3)
2000–2001 Shakhtar Donetsk 8 (3)
2000–2001 → Shakhtar-2 Donetsk 4 (1)
2001 Metalurh Donetsk 5 (0)
2002 Național București 11 (3)
2002–2003 AEL Limassol 25 (7)
2003–2004 Videoton FC Fehérvár 23 (3)
2004–2006 Național București 16 (2)
2006–2007 Petrolul Ploiești 3 (0)
Total 232 (78)
International career
1992–1993 Romania U21 12 (2)
2000 Romania B 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Marian Savu (born 11 October 1972) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Playing for clubs in four countries, he notably became the 1999–2000 Divizia A top goalscorer.

Club career

Savu was born on 11 October 1972 in Pietroșani, Teleorman, Romania.[1] He began playing football in 1989 at Flacăra Moreni.[1] Subsequently, Savu joined Dinamo București where he made his Divizia A debut on 28 October 1990, when coach Gheorghe Mulțescu sent him in the 61st minute to replace Marian Damaschin in a 0–0 draw against Progresul Brăila.[1][2] In 1991, he returned to Flacăra Moreni in Divizia B, playing there for eighteen months.[1] Afterwards, he came back to Dinamo, scoring his first Divizia A goal on 9 June 1993 in a 6–0 win over CSM Reșița.[1][3] He made his debut in European competitions in a 3–2 victory against Cagliari in the 1993–94 UEFA Cup.[1][4] In the same season, Savu was Dinamo's top scorer, netting 12 league goals to help the team to a runner-up position.[1][5][6] However, despite this performance, he was loaned to FC Brașov for the first half of the 1994–95 season.[1][5] Then he returned to Dinamo, only to leave again in the middle of the 1995–96 season to join Rapid București.[1]

In 1996, Savu went to play for Național București.[1] He helped them eliminate Partizan Belgrade and Chornomorets Odesa in the first rounds of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup, the campaign ending after a 3–1 aggregate loss to Club Brugge.[1][7] The team also reached the 1997 Cupa României final, but coach Florin Halagian did not play him in the 4–2 loss to Steaua București.[8] In the middle of the 1997–98 season, he joined Sportul Studențesc but was unable to help them avoid relegation.[1][9] Afterwards, Savu returned to Național, where he scored 39 league goals over the course of two seasons.[1] Notably, during the 1999–2000 season, Savu formed an offensive partnership with Marius Lăcătuș under coach Mihai Stoichiță and netted a career-best 20 goals to become the league's top scorer.[1][5][10][11]

In 2000, Savu moved to the Vyshcha Liha to play for Shakhtar Donetsk, where he became teammates with Marian Aliuță.[1][5][12] During this spell, he featured in a 3–0 victory against Arsenal in the first group stage of the 2000–01 Champions League.[1][12][13] Midway through the 2000–01 season, he transferred to Metalurh Donetsk.[1] He subsequently returned to Național for the 2001–02 season, before spending a year at AEL Limassol, where he scored seven goals in the Cypriot First Division.[1] In 2003, he moved to Hungary, signing with Videoton FC Fehérvár, where he was teammates with fellow Romanians Gabriel Vochin, Daniel Tudor and Ion Voicu.[14] On 2 August, he made his Nemzeti Bajnokság I debut, when coach János Csank sent him in the 52nd minute to replace Tomáš Medveď in a 2–2 draw against Ferencváros.[15][16] Savu played 23 matches by the end of the 2003–04 season, scoring three goals across the two victories against Győr.[15] He returned to Național for a third spell in 2004.[1] The team reached the 2006 Cupa României final, but coach Cristiano Bergodi did not use him in the 1–0 loss to Rapid București.[17]

Savu made his last Divizia A appearance on 11 April 2006 in Național's 2–0 loss to Jiul Petroșani, totaling 223 matches with 77 goals in the competition and 18 games with two goals in European competitions (including six appearances with one goal in the Intertoto Cup).[1][5] He ended his career after playing three matches in the Liga II for Petrolul Ploiești during the 2006–07 season.[1]

International career

From 1992 to 1993, Savu played 12 matches and scored two goals for Romania's under-21 national team.[18] On 19 May 2000, he played for Romania B in a 2–2 draw against Honduras.[18]

Honours

Național București

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Marian Savu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. ↑ "Dinamo Bucuresti in 1990–91". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  3. ↑ "Dinamo Bucuresti in 1992–93". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Marian Savu. UEFA Cup 1993/1994". WorldFootball. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Golgheterul din anii '90 care n-a avut loc la națională + Mesajul postat în timpul meciului de adio al Generației de Aur: "Mândru că am fost fotbalist"" (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Dinamo Bucuresti in 1993–94". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "Echipele noastre nu au mai eliminat-o pe Partizan din 1996! De atunci, sârbii n-au pierdut niciun meci din 6" (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
    "Marian Savu. 1996–97 UEFA Cup qual". WorldFootball. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
    "Marian Savu. 1996–97 UEFA Cup". WorldFootball. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Romanian Cup – Season 1996–1997". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Divizia A 1997–1998". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Topscorers of Liga 1". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Replica dată de Marian Savu antrenorului Mihai Stoichiță, după ce a primit premiul de golgheter al Diviziei A în 2000" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 29 October 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
    "Dezvăluirea lui Marian Savu: "A vrut să bage câinele în vestiar. Gino Iorgulescu ținea de ușă"" (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 8 February 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
    "Golgheterii-minune din Liga 1: de la muncă în Italia la anti-carantina din Belarus" (in Romanian). Welovesport.ro. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  12. 1 2 "Cine sunt cei trei fundași care "l-au chinuit" în carieră pe Marian Savu, fostul golgheter al Diviziei A" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 23 October 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Marian Savu. 2001–02 Champions League". WorldFootball. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Impresarul Tiberiu Bordaș se lansează în lumea transferurilor Trei vedete pentru FC Oradea" [Agent Tiberiu Bordaș launches into the world of transfers Three stars for FC Oradea] (in Romanian). Crisana.ro. 25 July 2003. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  15. 1 2 "Marian Savu profile". Magyarfutball.hu. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "Ferencváros - Haladás 4-0". Magyarfutball.hu. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  17. 1 2 "Romanian Cup – Season 2005–2006". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Marian Savu profile". 11v11. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
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