Adrian Neaga

Adrian Constantin Neaga (born 4 June 1979) is a Romanian football manager and retired player.

Adrian Neaga
Personal information
Full name Adrian Constantin Neaga
Date of birth (1979-06-04) 4 June 1979
Place of birth Pitești, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
0000–1997 Argeș Pitești
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2001 Argeș Pitești 52 (15)
1998–1999 → Dacia Pitești (loan) 20 (10)
2001–2005 Steaua București 59 (27)
2003 → Al-Nassr (loan) 1 (0)
2005–2006 Chunnam Dragons 47 (13)
2006–2007 Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 26 (4)
2007–2009 Steaua București 33 (3)
2008–2009 Steaua II București 5 (4)
2009–2010 Neftchi Baku 43 (16)
2010 Unirea Urziceni 6 (0)
2010–2011 Volyn Lutsk 4 (0)
2011–2013 Mioveni 26 (0)
2014 Argeș Pitești 1953
2016 National II Sebiș 1 (0)
Total 312 (92)
National team
2000–2004 Romania 6 (0)
Teams managed
2013 Unirea Bascov
2013–2014 Atletic Bradu
2014–2015 Urban Titu
2015 SCM Pitești
2015–2016 Național Sebiș
2016 Atletic Bradu
2018 Poli Timișoara
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Early career

Neaga was born in Pitești.

Neaga signed his first professional contract with Argeș Pitești in 1997. He was then playing in the same team with Adrian Mutu. He played three games in his first season, scoring a goal, and then played two other games in the first half of the following season, before the club decided to loan him to Dacia Pitești, a club from the second league, where he played 20 games and scored 10 goals, therefore gaining the right to be part of Argeș Pitești again.

In 2001 Neaga failed a drug test which had been performed at the end of a Divizia A game. He tested positive for the anabolic steroid metenolone.[1] He was not sanctioned for it, however.

Return to Steaua

After he ended his contract with Al-Nassr, Neaga returned to Steaua București. During the 2003–04 season he scored 13 goals in 15 games.

Walter Zenga was appointed head coach of Steaua București in the summer of 2004 and he soon made Neaga one of the two team leaders, alongside Mirel Rădoi, and in the first half of that season Neaga played 15 games in Divizia A, scoring six goals, while in the UEFA Cup he scored five times in eight games, finishing Steaua's top-scorer in Europe that season.

In February 2005, Gigi Becali received a buying offer from the South Korean club Chunnam Dragons for US$1.5 million. Becali accepted the offer, even though Neaga and the team were due to play a very important game against Valencia CF, then the La Liga champions and UEFA Cup winners, in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

South Korea

During his time at Chunnam Dragons, Neaga was selected in the Team of the Season and was awarded the Bronze Boot for finishing third in the goalscorers standings. After 18 months at Chunnam Dragons, Neaga made a statement saying that he would like to return to Steaua București. His club agreed to the transfer, on the condition that the Romanian club pay a US$1.5 million release fee. But Steaua București refused, and Neaga joined Korean club Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma instead. With his new team, Neaga won the Korean title for the first time and, also for the first time, played in the Asian Champions League, scoring a goal in his first game, against Vietnam's champions.

Second return to Steaua București

In June 2007, Neaga returned to Steaua București for a second time. Back at Steaua, he scored a goal in the 2–0 home victory against BATE Borisov, thus qualifying for the first time in his life for the UEFA Champions League, where he played against the likes of Arsenal and Sevilla.

In January 2009, Neaga was released by Steaua București and signed for Azerbaijani club Neftchi Baku.

Coaching career

After he ended his player career, Neaga started a career as coach, and his first job came at the beginning of 2013, when he signed a contract with Liga IV team Unirea Bascov. In December 2013, Neaga signed a contract to manage Atletic Bradu, in Liga III. In July 2014, Neaga signed a contract to coach ACS Urban Titu.

Honours

Steaua București

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma

References
  1. Doping case not over, says Romanian Olympic Committee, espn.com, 21 July 2001
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Claudiu Răducanu		 Steaua Top Scorer
2003–2004		 Succeeded by
Nicolae Dică
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