Gabi Balint

Gavril Balint

Balint during the 1980s
Personal information
Full name	Gavril Pele Balint
Date of birth	(1963-01-03) 3 January 1963 (age 62)
Place of birth	Sângeorz-Băi, Romania
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1974–1978	Hebe Sângeorz-Băi
1978	→ Luceafărul București (loan)
1979–1980	Gloria Bistrița
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980	Gloria Bistrița
1981–1990	Steaua București	264	(69)
1990–1993	Real Burgos	83	(28)
Total		347	(97)
International career
1981	Romania U20	6	(0)
1982–1992	Romania	34	(14)
Managerial career
1994–1998	Romania (assistant)
1998–1999	Bihor Oradea
1999–2000	Sportul Studențesc
2000	Romania (assistant)
2000–2001	Galatasaray (assistant)
2001	Romania (assistant)
2002–2003	Sheriff Tiraspol
2003–2004	Sportul Studențesc
2004–2005	Galatasaray (assistant)
2005–2006	Politehnica Timișoara (assistant)
2008–2009	FC Timișoara
2010–2011	Moldova
2013	Vaslui
2014	Universitatea Craiova
Medal record Representing   Romania FIFA World Youth Championship FIFA U-20 World Cup 1981 Australia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gavril Pele "Gabi" Balint (born 3 January 1963) is a former Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently a television sport pundit for Digi Sport.

Club career

Born in Sângeorz-Băi, Bistrița, Balint made his Divizia A debut with Steaua București in 1981 where he played until 1990 winning the league titles in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989, the Romanian Cup in 1985, 1987 and 1989, the 1985–86 European Cup and the European Super Cup in 1987. At the end of the 1989–90 season, Balint became the top goalscorer of the Divizia A with 19 goals. He scored the second and last goal at the penalties shoot-out during the 1986 European Cup final, helping his team, Steaua to win the trophy.

In 1990, he was bought by Real Burgos for $1,000,000. He played for the Spanish side until his retirement in 1993.

International career

Balint was capped 34 times by Romania, and scored 14 goals. He played at the 1990 World Cup where he scored twice, against Cameroon and Argentina.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[1]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	1982	3	0
	1983	4	0
	1984	4	2
	1985	1	0
	1986	3	0
	1987	3	0
	1988	0	0
	1989	1	2
	1990	10	5
	1991	2	1
	1992	3	4
Total		34	14

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Balint goal. ^[1]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 July 1984	Stadionul 23 August, Iași, Romania	China	4–0	4–2	Friendly
2	31 July 1984	Stadionul Municipal, Buzău, Romania	China	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3	15 November 1989	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Denmark	1–1	3–1	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
4				3–1
5	28 March 1990	Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	2–0	3–1	Friendly
6				3–1
7	25 April 1990	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, Haifa, Israel	Israel	4–1	4–1	Friendly
8	14 June 1990	Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy	Cameroon	1–2	1–2	1990 FIFA World Cup
9	18 June 1990	Stadio San Paolo, Napoli, Italy	Argentina	1–1	1–1	1990 FIFA World Cup
10	17 April 1991	Estadio Príncipe Felipe, Cáceres, Spain	Spain	2–0	2–0	Friendly
11	6 May 1992	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Faroe Islands	1–0	7–0	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
12				4–0
13				7–0
14	20 May 1992	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Wales	4–0	5–1	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification

Managerial career

Balint started his coaching career in 1994, aged 31, when he was appointed as assistant coach of Romania under Anghel Iordănescu's regime. Four years later comes his first chance as head coach after taking charge at Sportul Studențesc, but in May 2000 he is called again to join the coaching staff of Romania as the squad prepared for the UEFA Euro 2000.

In the summer of 2000, Balint was requested by Mircea Lucescu as his assistant for Galatasaray, however he left the job after only one season, to join again Romania as assistant coach, this time under Gheorghe Hagi.

After Hagi resigned, Balint went to Sheriff Tiraspol for his second job as head coach, taking the team in 2002.

In 2003, he returned to Romania and signed for Sportul Studențesc, now in Divizia B and helped the team win promotion back to Divizia A.

Balint returned as assistant coach for Galatasaray in 2004 to work again with Gheorghe Hagi.

In 2005, he was appointed assistant coach of FCU Politehnica Timișoara, working again with Hagi. When Hagi left, a few months later, Balint resigned also. Two years later, Balint returned to FC Timișoara, this time as a head coach.

In 2010, he became the head coach of the Moldova national team, but after the campaign for the UEFA Euro 2012, his contract ended and was not renewed. He then became a television pundit, signing a contract with Digi Sport.

In April 2013, Balint returned to coaching, signing a contract for one and a half years with FC Vaslui. In 2014 he was named head coach of Liga II side CS Universitatea Craiova and helped the club win promotion for the top-flight Liga I.

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win %
Sheriff Tiraspol		1 June 2002	3 June 2003	28	20	5	3	50	16	071.43
Sportul Studentesc		23 December 2003	1 June 2004	13	9	2	2	39	12	069.23
FC Timișoara		29 December 2008	1 June 2009	18	12	2	4	32	18	066.67
Moldova		20 January 2010	19 December 2011	16	5	1	10	17	23	031.25
FC Vaslui		9 April 2013	16 May 2013	9	5	3	1	15	8	055.56
Universitatea Craiova		17 March 2014	10 June 2014	15	11	2	2	28	9	073.33
Total				99	62	15	22	181	86	062.63

Trivia

• Balint has a passion for music and Harley Davidson. He even produced his own CD.
• He is named Pele because his father was a fan of the three time World Cup winner Pelé. ^[2]

Honours

Player

Steaua București

• Divizia A: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
• Cupa României: 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
• European Cup: 1985–86
• European Super Cup: 1986 ^[3]
• Intercontinental Cup runner-up: 1986

Romania U20

• FIFA U-20 World Cup third-place: 1981

Individual

• Divizia A top scorer: 1989–90

Coach

Sheriff Tiraspol

• Divizia Națională: 2002–03
• CIS Cup: 2003

Sportul Studențesc

• Divizia B: 2003–04

Universitatea Craiova

• Liga II: 2013–14

References

1. "Gavril Balint". European Football. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
2. "În numele tatălui Gabi Balint și tatăl său au retrăit momentele epocale şi sentimentele de la Sevilla '86" [In the name of the father Gabi Balint and his father relive the epic moments and feelings of Sevilla '86] (in Romanian). gsp.ro. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
3. "1986: Hagi catapulta o Steaua" [1986: Hagi catapults Steaua] (in Portuguese). UEFA. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Gavril Balint at National-Football-Teams.com
• Gavril Pelé Balint at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Gavril Pele Balint at BDFutbol