# Dan Anca

Dan Sabin Anca (7 January 1947 – 20 October 2005) was a Romanian football midfielder and manager for Universitatea Cluj.

## Playing career

   "No, he was not a talent like Zoltán Ivansuc, but when will another Ivansuc be born? He was not proud like Mateieanu; but how many live on pride? He wasn't a star like Petru Emil, but how many stars don't become ephemeris? He was not a hope; but how many high hopes were not true illusions? He was a modest, hardworking, disciplined footballer, who gave shine to the "peaks", "sacreds" carried on the arms of enthusiasm."

### Club career

Dan Anca was born on 7 January 1947 in Turda, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1959 at local club, Chimia. When he was 14 he started to play for Chimia at senior level in the Romanian lower leagues, also he played for a few months at Unirea Dej during his military service. He went to play for Universitatea Cluj in 1964, after two of the club's officials, Dr. Mircea Luca and Dr. Ioanete came to his home to convince his parents to allow him to come to the team. He would spend the rest of his senior career with "U", making his Divizia A debut under coach Andrei Sepci on 8 November 1964 in a 3–1 home loss in front of CSMS Iași and at the end of the season the club won the 1964–65 Cupa României, however he was not used by Sepci in the 2–1 victory from the final against Argeș Pitești. He scored his first goals for the club in the 1967–68 season, scoring the only goal of a victory against Steagul Roșu Brașov, one goal in a 2–0 victory in front of Dinamo Bacău and his team's goal in a 1–1 in front of Steaua București on the Ghencea stadium. Anca played 30 games and scored 7 goals in the 1971–72 season, helping The Red Caps finish on the 3rd position in the championship which earned the team a spot in the 1972–73 UEFA Cup where he played in the both matches from the first round as Levski Sofia defeated them with 6–5 on aggregate. At the end of the 1975–76 season, the team relegated to Divizia B but Anca stayed with the club, helping it obtain promotion back to the first league after three years, making his last Divizia A appearance on 11 November 1979 in a 2–0 away loss in front of FC Baia Mare, having a total of 318 matches with 25 goals scored in the competition.

### International career

Dan Anca appeared at international level in 7 matches for Romania, making his debut on 15 January 1969 under coach Angelo Niculescu in a friendly which ended 1–1 against England played on the Wembley Stadium from London where he had an appreciated performance, his direct opponent being Bobby Charlton. He also played two games at the Euro 1972 qualifiers and one at the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, his last appearance being a friendly which took place on 18 April 1973 and ended with a 2–0 away loss in front of Soviet Union.

## Managerial career

As his playing career, Dan Anca spent his entire managerial career at Universitatea Cluj, he started at the end of the 1979–80 Divizia A season when he worked as Gheorghe Staicu's assistant, also guiding the team together the whole following season. In the middle of the 1988–89 Divizia A season he worked again as an assistant, this time with Cornel Dinu as head coach and in the following season he replaced Dinu after the 9th round, leading the team as head coach until the 20th round when he was replaced with Ștefan Sameș. He worked on a few other occasions as head coach at "U" Cluj, his last spell taking place in the 2002–03 Divizia B season, having a total of 112 matches led as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 35 victories, 22 draws and 55 losses.

## Personal life

His brother was also a footballer who played for Cimentul Turda and while Dan Anca was at Chimia, they played against each other.
He was married with Floarea Anca who was an international basketball player, having a son together. Anca died on 20 October 2005 at age 58 in his native Turda and the multi-use stadium, Baza Sportivă Dan Anca from Cluj-Napoca was named after him.

## Honours
### Player

Universitatea Cluj
* Cupa României: 1964–65
* Divizia B: 1978–79