Career
Sabău made his debut for the national team in 1988 against Israel. He was in the squad for the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1996. After a two-year absence from the national team he returned to play five matches in 1999.
In November 2001, he made another comeback to the Romanian national team, playing in both legs of their 2002 World Cup play-off defeat by Slovenia.
Sabău started his coaching career in 2003 with Football Club Universitatea Cluj and Gaz Metan Mediaș before taking over Gloria Bistrița in the summer of 2005. During his time at Gloria Bistrița, he showed a good eye for young players such as Gabriel Mureșan or László Sepsi.
Sabău resigned at the end of the 2008-2009 season and was very close to taking over Dinamo, but eventually signed for league runners-up Football Club Timișoara. The team produced the main shock of the 2009-2010 Union of European Football Associations Champions League qualifying rounds by eliminating Union of European Football Associations Cup holders Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk in the third round.
In the summer of 2012, Sabău signed a contract with, but after some poor results, he was sacked in October the same year.
Sabău is featured on the cover of Fédération internationale de football association 96.