Ianis Zicu

Ianis Zicu

Personal information
Full name	Ianis Alin Zicu
Date of birth	23 October 1983 (1983-10-23)
Place of birth	Constanţa, Romania
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder / Winger
Club information
Current club	Pohang Steelers
Number	27
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2004	Dinamo Bucureşti	33	(8)
2001–2002	→ Poiana Câmpina (loan)	6	(4)
2002–2003	→ Farul Constanţa (loan)	20	(7)
2004–2007	Internazionale	0	(0)
2004–2005	→ Parma (loan)	9	(0)
2005–2006	→ Dinamo Bucureşti (loan)	40	(12)
2006–2007	→ Rapid Bucureşti (loan)	30	(13)
2007–2010	Dinamo Bucureşti	39	(5)
2010–2011	Politehnica Timişoara	30	(18)
2011	CSKA Sofia	15	(13)
2012–	Pohang Steelers	0	(0)
National team‡
2002–2004	Romania U–21	13	(3)
2003–	Romania	12	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 November 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 June 2011

Ianis Alin Zicu (born 23 October 1983 in Constanţa) is a Romanian football midfielder who currently plays for South Korean club Pohang Steelers.

Club career

Dinamo Bucureşti

Zicu made his Divizia A debut on 14 April 2001, at the age of 17 in a 4–2 win over Gaz Metan Mediaş. He scored his first goal in a 4–3 loss to Astra Ploieşti in the 2000–01 season. However, Zicu found first-team opportunities limited, during his four years at the club he was loaned out several times to gain more experience. During his time at the club, Zicu won the league titles twice in 2002 and 2004, and the Romanian Cup in 2001.

Internazionale

In January 2004 Zicu joined Internazionale, but club sent him immediately on a loan spell to Parma, as part of the Adriano Leite Ribeiro deal.

Loaned out

Zicu made his Serie A debut for Parma on 21 February 2004 in a 2–1 win against Sampdoria. He was loaned back to Dinamo Bucureşti in January 2005. Upon his return, Zicu won his second Romanian Cup in 2005. He remained in his country on loan to Rapid Bucureşti, and would become the teams leading scorer. He added another domestic cup with Rapid in 2007. However, the following season he went back to Dinamo on a permanent deal.

Politehnica Timişoara

On 21 July 2010, Zicu signed a five-year contract with arch rivals FC Timişoara. He made his debut in the Europa League, in the second leg of the third qualifying round against MyPa. He scored the second goal in the 80th minute, MyPa were leading 3–0 at half time. Timisoara had completed an amazing comeback during the second half a stoppage-time equaliser from Marián Čišovský in the 90+2' minute gave Poli the tickets to the competition's play-offs. After the first half of the season, Zicu scored 9 times in 15 matches. He scored twice in the second half of the season against Gaz Metan Mediaş in a 3–1 win. He dedicated his goals to his mother, who had died three weeks earlier of breast cancer. On 5 March 2011, Zicu netted again in a 2–1 away win against CFR Cluj at the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium. He scored again this time against Universitatea Craiova, in a 4–0 win, and then in a 2–0 victory over Victoria Brăneşti, becoming the Liga 1 top scorer with 14 goals.

CSKA Sofia

On 16 June 2011, Zicu moved abroad to sign with Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia for 3 years. On 30 July he made his competitive debut for CSKA in the Bulgarian Supercup derby match against Litex Lovech. He scored from penalty and made the result 2-1 for CSKA, afterwards the match ended 3-1 and CSKA Sofia won the Supercup for the record fourth time in their history. On 28 October 2011, Zicu scored the only goal in the Eternal derby of Bulgaria to help CSKA to a 1:0 home win over Levski Sofia. He scored his first-ever hat-trick in his career on 12 November 2011, in a 3–1 home win over Minyor Pernik. Zicu finished the first half of the 2011–12 A PFG season as the top scorer in the league, having netted 13 times in total.

Pohang Steelers

In late December 2011, it was revealed that Zicu had been transferred to South Korean football club Pohang Steelers, signing a two-year deal with an option for a fourth year (a two-year extension).

International career

He was a U-21 international before he made his debut for the senior side in 2003. He was banned from representing his country at any level for two years in 2004.

Zicu made his senior debut for Romania in a friendly with Japan on 11 October 2003.

International goals

	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	29 March 2011	Ceahlăul Stadium, Piatra Neamţ, Romania	Luxembourg	3–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying

Career statistics

Club

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dinamo București	2007-08	12	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	2
	2008-09	9	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	3
	2009-10	18	0	3	1	5	0	0	0	26	1
	Total	39	5	3	1	5	0	0	0	47	6
Politehnica Timişoara	2010–11	30	18	3	0	4	1	0	0	37	19
	Total	30	18	3	0	4	1	0	0	37	19
CSKA Sofia	2011–12	15	13	1	0	2	0	1	1	19	14
	Total	15	13	1	0	2	0	1	1	19	14
Career total		84	36	7	1	11	1	1	1	103	39

International

Romania national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2003	1	0
2004	0	0
2005	0	0
2006	1	0
2007	3	0
2008	0	0
2009	0	0
2010	1	0
2011	6	1
Total	12	1

Statistics accurate as of match played on 26 September 2011

External links

• Official website (Romanian)
• Ianis Zicu career stats at RomanianSoccer.ro
• Profile UEFA.com