| Gabriel Sandu | |
| Birth Date: | 7 November 1952 |
| Birth Place: | Bucharest, Romania |
| Height: | 1.79 m |
| Position: | Centre Back |
| Years1: | 1969–1970 |
| Years2: | 1971–1980 |
| Caps2: | 192 |
| Goals2: | 4 |
| Years3: | 1980–1981 |
| Caps3: | 19 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Totalcaps: | 211 |
| Totalgoals: | 4 |
| Nationalyears1: | 1973 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Nationalyears2: | 1973–1974 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 8 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Nationalyears3: | 1974–1976 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 22 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 2 |
Gabriel Sandu (7 November 1952 – 1 October 1998) was a Romanian football defender.
Gabriel Sandu was born in Bucharest on 7 November 1952 and started playing football at Metalul București. Afterwards, he went to play for Dinamo București, making his Divizia A debut on 2 May 1971 in a 1–0 victory against Argeș Pitești, winning the title in his first season spent at the club, coaches Nicolae Dumitru and Traian Ionescu giving him nine appearances, also reaching the 1971 Cupa României final where he played in the first half of the 3–2 loss with rivals Steaua București, being replaced for the second with Mircea Stoenescu.[1] [2] He won three more titles with The Red Dogs, in the first worked with coach Ion Nunweiller who used him in 28 games, in the second he played 25 games and scored two goals under the guidance Dumitru and in the third he worked again with Nunweiller, making 29 appearances in which he scored once in a 4–2 victory against Steaua.[1] [3] During his period spent at Dinamo, Sandu also played 14 games in European competitions, including a 1–0 home victory in front Real Madrid in the 1975–76 European Cup.[4] [5]
After spending nine seasons at Dinamo, Sandu went to play for Progresul București, where he ended his career after making 19 appearances in the league, his last Divizia A match taking place on 30 October 1981 in a 1–0 victory against Politehnica Timișoara, having a total of 211 appearances with four goals scored in the competition.
Gabriel Sandu played 17 games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 5 June 1974 under coach Valentin Stănescu in a friendly which ended 0–0 with Netherlands.[6] He played five matches at the Euro 1976 qualifiers and made two appearances at the 1973–76 Balkan Cup. Sandu scored one goal in a friendly against Iran which ended 2–2 and made his last appearance for the national team on 22 September 1976 in a friendly which ended 1–1 with Czechoslovakia.[7]
Sandu also appeared for Romania's Olympic team in five qualification matches for the 1976 Summer Olympics, scoring one goal in a 4–0 victory against Denmark.[8] [9] [10]
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sandu goal.[7]
Gabriel Sandu died on 1 October 1998, at the age of 45.
Dinamo București
1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77