Romulus Buia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Romulus Buia
Full name	Romulus Adrian Buia
Date of birth	15 June 1970 (1970-06-15) (age 37)
Place of birth	Baia Mare, Romania
Height	1.73m
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Covaci
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988-1989 1989-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1995-1996 1996-1998 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2001-2002 2003-2005 2005-2006 2005-2006 2006-2007	Minerul Cavnic FC Baia Mare Germinal Ekeren Universitatea Craiova Germinal Ekeren Sportul Studenţesc Universitatea Craiova Şomcuta Mare Rocar Bucureşti Dinamo Bucureşti Gloria Bistriţa FCU Politehnica Timişoara Pandurii Târgu-Jiu Minerul Mehedinţi Fortuna Covaci	- (-) - (-) 21 (4) 24 (6) 0 (0) 21 (3) 50 (5) - (-) 31 (3) 9 (0) 5 (0) 58 (3) 20 (1) - (-) - (-)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 17, 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of March 17, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Romulus Buia, (born June 15, 1970 in Baia Mare), is a Romanian football player. He was nicknamed "Figo from Berceni" by the fans of A.S. Rocar Bucharest which played the home games on a field in the Berceni Neighborhood in Bucharest, because of the similarities with the Portuguese football star Luís Figo.

Buia made his professional debut at the age of 18, playing for Minerul Cavnic in the Romanian Divizia B, before joining FC Baia Mare at the age of 19, a club also from Divizia B.

In 1991, at the age of 21, he made international debut against U.S. in a friendly game. He also played for Romania national football team in 1992, this time against Mexico.

FC Barcelona paid a close attention to him during the 1991-92 season. In the summer of 1992, Johan Cruijff, the Catalan side coach, invited him to train with the team but in the end the transfer did not materialised.

Buia started the 1992-93 at FC Baia Mare but was then transferred to Germinal Ekeren (3550) of Belgium during the season. He played in Belgium for two years, before being loaned back to Romania, this time at Universitatea Craiova, therefore making his debut in Romanian top league, Divizia A. In 1995 he returned to Ekeren but after at half season he terminated his contract and returned in Romania, signing a contract with Sportul Studenţesc of Bucharest, before joining again Universitatea Craiova for two seasons.

In 1998 his contract with Universitatea Craiova terminated and he failed to find another one with a top team, and therefored played for Progresul Somcuta Mare, a team from the Romanian fourth division.

In 2000 he returned to Divizia A after signing a contract with Rocar Bucharest. After only a year he joined Dinamo Bucharest but left the team at the end of 2001 to play for Gloria Bistriţa.

In 2002 he was signed by FCU Politehnica Timisoara, where he stayed until 2005, before being sacked by the new Timisoara coach, Cosmin Olăroiu and subsequently joining Pandurii Târgu-Jiu.

In the season 2005-06 he played at Minerul Mehedinti in Divizia C and now he is playing for AS Covaci in Romanian fourth division.