Ianis Zicu

Ianis Alin Zicu (born 23 October 1983) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Metaloglobus București.

Ianis Zicu was born on 23 October 1983 in Constanța, Romania, starting to play football at the youth center of local club Farul, under the guidance of coach Iosif Bükössy.

In 2000, Zicu went to play for Dinamo București, making his Divizia A debut under coach Cornel Dinu on 14 April 2001, at the age of 17 in a 4–2 win over Gaz Metan Mediaș, scoring his first goal in a 4–3 loss to Astra Ploiești in the same season, at the end of which he won the first trophy of his career, being sent by Dinu in the 90th minute in order to replace Marius Niculae in the 4–2 victory against Rocar București from the 2001 Cupa României final.

In the following season, Zicu helped the team win the title by scoring two goals in the 16 appearances given to him by coaches Dinu and Marin Ion, while also playing a few games in Divizia B for the club's then satellite team, Poiana Câmpina and he made his debut in European competitions when he replaced Claudiu Niculescu in the 63rd minute of a 3–1 home loss in front of Grasshopper Zürich from the first round of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

He returned at Farul to play in the 2002–03 Divizia A season, being loaned by Dinamo so he would have the chance to play more and gain experience.

He returned to The Red Dogs for the first half of the 2003–04 season, having a good performance by scoring 6 goals in the 13 league matches coach Ioan Andone used him, also helping the team eliminate Liepājas Metalurgs and Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup by scoring his first two goals in European competitions against each of them, then transferring in the middle of the season at Inter Milan, but Dinamo still managed to win the Double at the end of the season without him.

Ianis Zicu was an under-21 international before he made his debut for the senior side in 2003, being banned together with teammate Lucian Goian from representing his country at any level for two years in 2004, because the Romanian Football Federation considered they had a "defiant attitude" during a 4–1 loss in front of Czech Republic U21.

Zicu played 12 games and scored one goal for Romania's senior team, making his debut on 11 October 2003 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in the 82nd minute to replace Daniel Pancu in a friendly which ended 1–1 against Japan.

In January 2004 Zicu joined Inter Milan from Dinamo for €2.5 million, but the club immediately loaned him to Parma, as part of the Adriano Leite Ribeiro deal.

He made his Serie A debut for The Crusaders under coach Cesare Prandelli on 21 February 2004 in a 2–1 win against Sampdoria, making a total of seven appearances in the competition by the end of the season.

In the next season, as Prandelli left the club, Zicu was used rarely, but one of his appearances was in the group stage of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup in a 1–0 victory against Steaua București, then leaving in the middle of the season to go on loan at Dinamo for one year and a half.

Upon his return, Zicu helped The Red Dogs win the 2004–05 Cupa României, being sent on the field by Ioan Andone in the 56th minute to replace Ovidiu Burcă in the 1–0 victory against Farul from the final.

He started the following season by coming as a substitute to replace Vlad Munteanu in the 69th minute of the 3–2 victory against rivals Steaua which helped the team earn for the first time in its history the Supercupa României, also Andone used him in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when team reached the group stage after eliminating Omonia Nicosia against whom he scored a brace in the first leg and Everton against whom he scored a goal in a historical 5–2 on aggregate, after which the British newspaper Daily Mirror wrote about Zicu:"There is no doubt. The Romanian has class".

In August 2005, Zicu gained negative attention upon himself when during a 1–0 loss in front of Farul, in the 22nd minute of the game, after he got pass the goalkeeper and was alone in central position, without any opponents, he missed, kicking the ball beyond the goalpost, saying after the game:"I lost the match. It's my fault and I take full responsibility. I don't know if I'll have nightmares, but I'll definitely think a lot about this miss".

For the 2006–07 season he remained in his country, Inter loaning him this time to Rapid București.

He had a remarkable spell with The Railwaymen, as under the guidance of coach Răzvan Lucescu he scored 12 league goals, helped the club reach the UEFA Cup group stage and win the Cupa României, scoring the second goal of the 2–0 victory against Politehnica Timișoara from the final when he was also named "The man of the match".

Freed from his contract with Inter Milan, Zicu returned to Dinamo București, signing a four-year contract with the champions of the last season, being wanted by coach Mircea Rednic, with the objective of reaching the Champions League group stage, but in the 6th minute of the first leg from the third qualifying round against Lazio Roma, he left the field after getting his right knee injured by Guglielmo Stendardo, also the team did not qualify, losing with 4–2 on aggregate.

The injury kept him off the field for six months, returning to the field in February 2009 but in April the same year he got injured again in a 4–4 with Universitatea Craiova, this time spending 11 months off the field.

During the period in between the two injuries he also played for the team's satellite, Dinamo II in the second league, scoring a spectacular goal by kicking the ball with the heel over the goalkeeper after receiving a 60 meters pass in a 5–2 loss against FC Botoșani, which gained attention including from the Italian press, Corriere dello Sport writing:"What a great goal the former Inter player scored".

In his last season spent at the club he helped them fulfill "The wonder from Liberec" after winning with 3–0 the away game against Slovan Liberec, as the first leg was lost with the same score, qualifying after the penalty shoot-out to the group stage of the 2009–10 Europa League.

On 21 July 2010, Zicu signed a five-year contract with Politehnica Timișoara who paid 300.000€ to Dinamo for his transfer.

He made his debut for the team in the second leg from the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 Europa League against MyPa, scoring his side's second goal in the 80th minute as MyPa were leading 3–0 at half time, completing an amazing comeback in the second half after Marián Čišovský equalized in the 90+2 minute and as in the first leg Politehnica won with 2–1, they qualified to the competition's play-offs where they were eliminated by Manchester City.

Zicu had the most prolific season of his career, being the top-goalscorer of the season as he scored a personal record of 18 goals in the league, including three braces in three victories against Rapid București, FCM Târgu Mureș and Gaz Metan Mediaș, also the team finished the season on the second position.

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 under coach Milen Radukanov in the Bulgarian Supercup against Litex Lovech, scoring from a penalty to make the result 2–1 for CSKA, the match ending with a 3–1 victory, thus winning the trophy.

In August he played in both legs of the Europa League play-off for the group stage against Steaua București, losing with 3–1 on aggregate.

On 28 October, Zicu scored the only goal in the Eternal derby of Bulgaria to help CSKA earn a 1–0 home win over Levski Sofia, then he scored a hat-trick on 12 November in a 3–1 home win over Minyor Pernik, finishing the first half of the 2011–12 A PFG season as the top scorer of the league, having netted 13 times in total, forming a couple in the team's offence with Júnior Moraes.

In late December 2011, it was revealed that Zicu had been transferred to South Korean club Pohang Steelers, signing a two-year deal with an option for a fourth year (a two-year extension) for an undisclosed fee, though media reports estimated it to be €2.3 million.

He made his official debut as a starter on 18 February 2012 in the 2–0 win over Thai club Chonburi in an AFC Champions League play-off match which helped them advance to the group stage where he made three more appearances without scoring.

Zicu scored his first goal for the team on 11 March 2012, in the 1–1 away draw with Gwangju in a K-League game, then one week later he scored a brace in a 2–2 in front of Busan IPark, gaining a total of 6 goals in 15 league appearances for Pohang, also winning the 2012 Korean FA Cup with them.

On 24 July 2012, he agreed to join the K League side Gangwon on a 6-month loan deal until the end of the 2012 season, a period in which he scored 9 goals in 17 K-League appearances, including a hat-trick in a 5–3 away loss in front of Daejeon Citizen.

In January 2013, Zicu was transferred definitely to Gangwon, scoring 6 goals in 27 matches for the team in the 2013 K League season.

In January 2014, Zicu signed a contract for one year and a half with Petrolul Ploiești, after Adrian Mutu signed one day before with the club, being wanted there by coach Cosmin Contra whom he previously had as teammate and coach at Politehnica Timișoara.

After only half of year in which he did not succeed to score or provide assists, he and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

In July 2014, Zicu moved to the newly promoted ASA Târgu Mureș, where he signed a contract for one season.

The team was close to winning the league, Zicu being one of its best players, one of the most important moments being when he scored the only goal of a 1–0 away victory against Steaua București which helped ASA reach the first position with five rounds before the end of the season.

Eventually they finished on the second place, losing the title in favor of Steaua in the last round when they were defeated 2–1 by Oțelul Galați.

For the 2015–16 Liga I season, Zicu played again for a newly promoted team, returning to Timișoara at ACS Poli, but the one-year spell was rather unsuccessful as the team mathematically relegated, however managed to keep its position in the league because Rapid București went bankrupt.

Zicu returned to ASA Târgu Mureș in July 2016 where he would spend the last season of his career, leaving in January 2017 as the team had financial problems and did not pay him for several months, also relegating by the end of the season.

The highlight of this period was a brace scored in a 2–1 win over his former club, Dinamo București, making his last Liga I appearance on 10 December 2016 against the same team, this time losing with 1–0, having a total of 278 games with 77 goals scored in the competition.