# Romulus Gabor

Romulus Gabor (born 14 October 1961) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a winger and as a forward.

## Club career

Romulus Gabor was born on 14 October 1961 in Pui, Hunedoara County, Romania. He started playing football at age 13 at Jiul Petroșani, where he stayed for a short while before moving at Corvinul Hunedoara where on 28 October 1978 he made his Divizia A debut under coach Ilie Savu in a 2–0 loss in front of Argeș Pitești. At the end of his first season spent at Corvinul, the club relegated to Divizia B, but Gabor stayed with the club, being used more often after coach Mircea Lucescu came to the club, promoting back to the first division after one year. He helped the club finish third in the 1981–82 Divizia A season, also appearing in all four games from the 1982–83 UEFA Cup campaign, scoring once as they got past Grazer AK in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by FK Sarajevo. For the way he played in 1981, Gabor was placed fifth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.
After 13 seasons spent with Corvinul in which he scored 68 goals in 305 league games, in 1991 he was transferred at Nemzeti Bajnokság I club, Diósgyőri VTK. Gabor spent one season in Hungary, then he returned to play for Corvinul in Divizia B, afterwards going for a half of season to play for Universitatea Cluj where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 10 November 1993 in a 3–2 victory against Gloria Bistrița. Afterwards he played for Unirea Alba Iulia, Corvinul and Inter Sibiu in Divizia B, ending his career in 1997 at Divizia C club, Viitorul Oradea. Romulus Gabor has a total of 304 Divizia A appearances with 64 goals scored and 13 Nemzeti Bajnokság I matches played with one goal scored.

## International career

Romulus Gabor played 35 games and scored two goals for Romania, all under the guidance of coach Mircea Lucescu, being nicknamed "Lucescu's child", making his debut on 11 November 1981 in a 0–0 with Switzerland at the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. He played six games at the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers. He was used by Lucescu in two games at the Euro 1984 final tournament, in the first one which was a 1–1 with Spain he played as a starter until the 76th minute when he was replaced by Gheorghe Hagi and in the second he came as a substitute and replaced Mircea Irimescu in the 59th minute of a 1–0 loss in front of Portugal as Romania did not pass the group stage. He scored his first goal for the national team from a free kick in a friendly against Turkey. Romulus Gabor played two games at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, scored his second goal in a friendly against Egypt and made his last appearance on 23 April 1986 in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory against Soviet Union. Gabor was also part of Romania's U20 squad at the 1981 World Youth Championship from Australia, appearing in six games in which he scored two goals in two 1–0 wins over Italy and England, helping the team finish the tournament on the third position, winning the bronze medal, also winning the Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament and the Bronze shoe for the third goalscorer of the competition.
For representing his country at Euro 1984, Gabor was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

### International goals

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gabor goal.
List of international goals scored by Romulus Gabor :
| # | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 29 January 1983 | Ali Sami Yen Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey | 12 | Turkey | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 2 March 1986 | Al-Iskandarīyah Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt | 33 | Egypt | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |

## Honours

Corvinul Hunedoara
* Divizia B: 1979–80
Individual
* Romanian Footballer of the Year (fifth place): 1981