Marked for Cosmin Nita
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergiu Stanciu
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cosmin Nita is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
Pandurii do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Pandurii came through the finding-out well against Angers SCO.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sergiu Stanciu damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andrei Keseru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A goal and an assist for Miloš Pantović — 7.73
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.73 beside his name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergiu Ratiu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miloš Pantović. 2‑1 against Petrolul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Cosmin Nita gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.74 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
Pandurii do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Pandurii came through the finding-out well against Olimpija Ljubljana.
Market21 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pandurii, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Sep 2026
Pandurii are in real trouble now
Position 8, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrei Keseru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Cosmin Nita falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The team sheet said everything about Cosmin Nita
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Cosmin Nita.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market31 Aug 2026
Pandurii say no — this time
The offer from Karpaty for Marius Iancu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cosmin Nita is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Segura
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Aug 2026
Pandurii bow out of the cup
Voluntari go through and Pandurii go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match22 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Pandurii scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Andrei Keseru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Cosmin Nita falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Andrei Keseru’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pandurii.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Cosmin Nita
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrei Stanciu, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Balasa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Pandurii are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.15 on the card, and the Pandurii support went home talking about one name.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bogdan Puscas has his answer from Pandurii; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match15 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Pandurii?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Voluntari? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
Pandurii say no — this time
The offer from Ferencvaros for Adrian Keseru was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrei Keseru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrey Kerzhakov and Pandurii agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Cosmin Nita falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.